Can’t ignore digital: Marketers @Pitch CMO Summit
Be it retail or advertising, digital cannot be ignored any more – this was the key take-away from Pitch CMO Summit South that kicked-off yesterday
Be it retail or be it advertising, digital cannot be ignored any more. That was the key take-away from the Pitch CMO Summit 2012 – South that kicked-off in Hyderabad yesterday. From here, the Summit goes to Chennai, where marketers and media managers come together to present their cases on June 22. The theme for the two-city event is Communication to Commerce: Converting Share of Voice to Sales.
Shopper marketing
The day kicked-off with Bijou Kurien, President and CE, Lifestyle, Reliance Retail, delving in his Keynote Address – Modern Retail: Reshaping Consumer Behaviour – on how modern retail was becoming a media vehicle in its own right. The entrance, the floors, the walls, the ceiling and columns are important places where with right execution, by both the marketers and retailers, the consumer could be turned into a customer. And there colour and lighting, which according to Kurien are a mood enhancer, play an important role in converting ‘intent’ to ‘purchase’.
In shopper marketing, the difference between a retailer's and a marketer's perspective, he said was, while a retailer wants to drive in consumers to a store, a marketer wants to bring in a differentiation between his and the other brand.
Pointing out the challenges in shopper marketing, Kurien said that retailers have to think like a shopper; building the retail store as a brand in itself; and making the store a fun place to shop, as the place with same look and format could start looking jaded to the shoppers after a certain point of time.
Elaborating on the benefits of modern retail, Kurien said that according to international surveys and researches, 68 per cent of store-purchases are on 'impulse'. And modern retail with the benefit of allowing the consumer to touch and feel and move around the store and in fact make comparisons between brands, can fuel that impulse.
Speaking during a question-answer session with the audience, Kurien said that e-retailing was here to stay and in fact a reverse trend is being seen where, particularly in the consumer electronics and gadgets segment, people were experiencing the touch-and-feel offline and going online to shop, because of the deals offered online.
He assured that while modern retail was here to stay it is no threat to traditional retail. The latter is in fact complementing modern retail. Ninety three per cent still is traditional retail, he said.
A home for all
Delivering his Special Address, K Ravinder Reddy, CMD, Janapriya Engineers Syndicate, said that purchasing a house was an emotional decision for all, and banks were playing an important role in making that dream come true. While buying a house, the buyer was only paying 20 per cent and the rest being funded by a bank, and considering the tax benefits on housing loans, appreciation of property rates over the years, and considering the inflation over the years, it was a win-win situation for the buyer.
Marketing in a low involvement category
Delving on the challenges of marketing in a low involvement category, like chewing gum, salt, cooking oil, or cement, Madhusudan Mokashi, VP, Marketing, Hyderabad Industries, said that touch and feel did not matter to a consumer. Product benefits weren't evident much enough and there are substitutes available easily.
Brand loyalty is a last thing in these categories, he said. For example, a consumer would not go back and say, that he is not going to build his new house, if he did not find his favourite brand of cement at a shop. That is why, he said that the low involvement categories have to be positioned on emotions and feel good factor.
Brands like Captain Cook, Tata Salt, Dalda, Safola, Annapurna are some examples in a low involvement category that have managed to become big brands as they have been positioned thoughtfully with being positioned on health and hygiene platforms, so much so that some of these brands have become generic to the category itself.
Another successful example, he said, was Cafe Coffee Day, which went beyond the drink to touch the emotional chords of consumers, with its positioning: A lot can happen over coffee.
He also gave an example of Ultratech Cement, a company where he has worked earlier, how the brand, which was positioned on product benefits has evolved in its positioning over the years to touch the emotional chords of the consumer, while retaining its catchline: Iss Cement Mein Jaan Hai.
Embrace convergence of media
Next in the line-up of speakers, was Suresh Balakrishna, the CEO of the newly formed Brand Programming Network, a part of the Lintas Media Group, who spoke on: Media Convergence – Is it an Opportunity to Move from Communication to Commerce? While on the topic, he said that it was important for brands to embrace convergence of media to create a meaningful dialogue with consumers. He said that brands should evolve by in novelty in the areas of strategic thought, technology and brand planning while focusing on new method of media measurement.
He gave examples of Union Bank of India and Cadbury – the latter for the Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye campaign, how the two accepted convergence of media. Cadbury used internet (matrimonial sites), railway tickets, radio and mobile phones (a new purchase of reliance SIM card).
Challenges in marketing intangible products
Delivering her address, Manisha Lath Gupta, CMO, Axis Bank, spoke on the challenges of marketing an intangible category like finance. In service marketing, advertising was the last point and is not the first point. Till your service is not good, till your banks don't have the infrastructure there is no point in advertising. So even packaging was more important in intangibles. But at the same time, social media was the place to be on, where they could have direct interaction and educate the consumer more.
She gave an example of Kingfisher Airlines, which with its 'branded talk strategy' was able to become a differentiator. It was one who started calling passengers as 'Guests' and all of a sudden, it became a branded word, which no one else would use it. People would talk about its services like how their luggage was picked up at the airport and how they were addresses as 'Guests'.
Financial categories had to move beyond selling products and sell propositions, she said.
The new-age consumer
Shubhranshu Singh, CMO, Visa, in his address, emphasised how the consumer was evolving. The new-age consumer, he said was not shying for spending more as compared to an earlier generation, which focused more on saving. Also, people were getting more comfortable spending online, and that has given a fillip to e-retail.
He put the consumers in three categories – young, the not so young and the old. He said while the young wouldn't think twice before spending, the not so old would think twice because responsibilities made them cautious towards saving, while the older generation was conservative in its approach towards spending, which focused more on saving.
He also, talked about the growing influence of digital, something marketers cannot ignore any more. He agreed with Manisha Lath Gupta that today digital marketing has come on top of traditional advertising. It is not that it has come as an alternative to traditional advertising.
He said that people ‘believed’ word more on social media rather than believe an advertisement. They would prefer a feedback from a friend about a service or product rather than an advertisement. In agreement with Gupta, he said that brands could with just a click of an 'Unlike' button find themselves blocked out from the consumer's preference list.
Digitisation of all media platforms
Last but not the last, the day ended with a panel discussion on 'Luring National Advertisers to Regional Media: Challenges and Opportunities'. The panel was of a consensus that one of the ways to lure national players to regions was by digitising platforms such as newspapers. Today newspapers too are being consumed on gadgets such as the mobile and tablets. Similarly, outdoor too offered more scope for interactivity by going digital.
However, the challenge, the panellists said was that players, particularly in the regional media space did not understand digital very well.
On the panel were I Venkat, Director, Eenadu Publications; Syed Musharraf Mehdi, MD, Ad Age Outdoor Advertising; Ramesh Bhaskar, VP, Marketing, Big FM; and Suresh Reddy, Chairman and CEO, Ybrant technologies. The panel was moderated by Sriram Gopalakishnan, Director, Marketing and Communication, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.
The title sponsor for the event was The Economic Times and associate sponsor was TV9. It was supported by Ad Club Hyderabad and Ad Club Madras.
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Social Beat wins SEO mandate of Tata CLiQ tag rss
The account was won after a multi-agency pitch
e4m e4m Social Beat has won the SEO mandate for Tata CLiQ, one of the fastest-growing omnichannel marketplace in India. Social Beat has been entrusted with optimizing existing content, as well as launching new, optimized category pages systematically on Tata CLiQ’s platform to scale monthly organic traffic by 2x over the next year. The account was won after a multi-agency pitch and will be serviced by Social Beat’s offices in Mumbai.
Shishir Kataria, Director - Marketing, Tata CLiQ, “Shoppers, e-commerce or otherwise, continue to heavily rely on search and discovery throughout their shopping journey, be it engaging with the latest fashion trends or hunting for the best buys. No wonder a platform's ability to be a part of this journey organically drives significant consideration for it amongst potential shoppers. We, at Tata Cliq, are confident that Social Beat will help us develop and optimise content that is highly discoverable to grow our engagement and revenue. Our goal continues to be to drive more and more shoppers to our platform with optimised and curated products and relevant content.”
Vikas Chawla, Co-Founder, Social Beat said, “We are thrilled to partner with Tata CLiQ in their growth journey. We aim to scale traffic to the Tata CLiQ platform manyfold over the next year. Our team of specialised SEO and Content strategists will be working closely to achieve this”
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ShareWill OOH dazzle this festive season?
As the celebrations begin, experts tell us the trends and challenges for the OOH sector this season
Be it the flower-clad taxis in Mumbai for Made in Heaven Season 2 promotion or Zomato’s ‘kheer mangoge kheer denge’ billboards, India's OOH advertising sector has undergone substantial transformation and expansion in the recent years. Even though the medium was severely hit during the pandemic years, it has now managed to rebuild its status. Now, with the onset of the festive season, elections and the cricket world cup, OOH is expected to see more and more advertisers come on board.
Amarjeet Hudda, Chief Operating Officer, Laqshya Media Group, believes most of the clients spend a lot of money during the festive season, especially for Durga Puja, Dussehra and Diwali, targeting their customers in a festive mood. The categories that spend heavily during these months are Auto, Consumer Durables, Real Estate, Organised retail, and E-commerce.
According to Dipankar Sanyal of Platinum Outdoor, there was a huge surge in the festive season last year, and he expects the same this year too. “Last four to five years have turbulent for outdoor. It was picking up in 2019, but then Covid came and everything went flat for two years,” he mentioned.
According to EY-FICCI’s M&E Report 2023, OOH media grew 86 percent in 2022 to Rs 37 billion. The value includes traditional, transit and digital media, but excludes untracked unorganised OOH media such as wall paintings, billboards, ambient media, storefronts, proxy advertising.
Sharing the brand’s perspective, Shivam Ranjan, Head of Marketing, Motorola-APAC, said, “We are going into this festive season with a strong mix of media, including OOH. Within OOH, we are focusing on digital OOH, due to its capability of programmatic serving, measurability, and near real-time insights that allow us to be agile with the communication and optimisation of our campaigns.”
With urbanisation, improved infrastructure, rising consumerism and an increased spending power, clients' expectations from OOH advertising too have evolved. “The clients expect better ROI on every investment, best in class innovations, tech-led planning and execution. Today, technology plays an important role starting from planning the campaign, to measuring metrics to ROI,” Singh explained.
Another trend that Sanyal has observed is that traditionally advertisers looked at spending on OOH nearly two weeks prior to the festivities, but now, most advertisers have now started advertising a week earlier so that they can get maximum eyeballs. Additionally, the digital OOH advertising (DOOH) has also emerged big. The digital OOH screens increased to around 100,000 and contributed eight percent of total segment revenues.
“Now with digital, there is more space for advertisers to come in one frame. Because of this, you can see it is getting more attractive. The innovations too are coming in at a much lower cost and creating a greater impact,” shared Sanyal.
The only challenge with the medium, according to Ranjan, is OOH being a fragmented industry with lack of measurability and agility. This becomes a serious issue for ROI-centric brands. However, the growth of DOOH, which is dynamic, agile and measurable, is giving marketers the confidence to invest in the medium backed by relevant data and outcomes.
Adding to this, Hudda highlighted that availability of good media spots is the biggest challenge in this season as media assets are limited and demand is very high. Due to the gap in the festive season, many clients are not able to fully optimise their campaigns. Rather sometimes, clients are even compelled to divert their budget which adversely impacts the industry, he shared.
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Banking on positive consumer sentiment: BFSI optimistic on doubling festive AdEx : Cache
Some categories within the sector, however, may spend more in the quarter that follows the festive season
The BFSI sector is expecting a surge in demand for loan during the festive season and is looking at increasing its ad spends to cash in on the celebration spirit. Industry leaders say they are hopeful of witnessing a good growth in the number of applications for auto loan, home loan, credit card and health insurance during October, November and December due to positive consumer sentiment this year. However, though most of the BFSI players are planning to double their advertising budget this time compared to the previous year, there are some who are not investing too heavily on marketing during the festivals as they plan to save the money for the fourth quarter.
According to Shailendra Singh, MD & CEO, BOB Financial, they witness incremental growth every year during the October-December quarter, and they anticipate an increase in consumer spending as well as new enrolments for cards this year too. “There remains a surge in customer demand for credit during the festive season,” said Singh.
Singh shared that the company is fully geared up for the launch of #FestiveShoppingRewards on all Bank of Baroda credit card variants under the theme ‘Reimagine Festivities’. They would kickstart festive offerings with the start of Navratri.
The festive season does not just see the demand for credit go up, but there is an increase in applications for health and motor insurance too during this time of the year.
Aabhinna Suresh Khare, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer, BajajCapital Ltd, shared that among insurance products, health insurance and motor insurance reign supreme during festivals. According to Khare, the demand for mutual funds and SIPs too sees a hike.
“Overall, the festive season presents an opportune moment to secure insurance coverage. A plethora of attractive products and services are on offer, with financial institutions extending special discounts and promotions to entice new customers,” said Khare.
The company launched #BlessMeGanesha campaign during Ganesh Chaturthi. “Our goal for this festive season is not only to provide financial solutions but also to create memorable experiences and deepen the connection with our customers,” said Khare.
Though all major sectors spend heavily on advertising during the festive season, within the BFSI sector, some categories spend more in the quarter that follows the festive season.
Explaining the trend, Samir Sethi, Head of Brand Marketing, Policybazaar.com, said that the festive season has varying impacts on the BFSI sector. In the banking sector, for instance, the demand for loans surges as many individuals purchase items and undertake home renovations. Conversely, in the insurance category, the festive season doesn't result in significant changes. Instead, the insurance industry experiences its peak season after the festive period, particularly during the fourth quarter of the financial year.
“As the festive season approaches, there is a noticeable increase in car sales though, leading to a surge in the demand for motor insurance. Consequently, we see a significant uptick in the requests for motor insurance policies. During the festive period, there is an upswing in demand for various categories, such as electronics. However, in the insurance sector, this period doesn't significantly affect us, so we don't run specific campaigns targeting festivals. Nevertheless, we do roll out multiple campaigns throughout the year, and some of them may coincide with the festive season,” said Sethi.
According to the TAM AdEx report on BFSI sector across media for H1, the advertising volume of the sector grew on TV, radio and digital, but declined in the print medium. The report indicated that ad impressions on digital saw 91% rise during Jan-Jun '23 over Jan-Jun’22. The increase was 32% for radio and 4% for TV. The ad space of the BFSI sector decreased by 7% in print.
Speaking on media mix, Singh shared that BOB Financial has a good mix of customer segments belonging to Tier I, II and III. So, understanding their needs and preferred form of media channels, the company will reach out to them through relevant media promotions. “For the easy discovery of our offers, we shall have a dedicated offers page with regular promotion of top offers on our social media and other digital channels,” said Singh. Without disclosing the figure, Singh shared that the company’s promotion budget has surely increased from last year and it will be visible through their multi-channel promotional activities.
According to the TAM report, in the BFSI sector, life insurance is the leading category on TV and radio whereas mutual funds is the top category on digital.
Khare highlighted that in recent times, Bajaj Capital has observed a significant growth in audiences on online platforms and the changing preferences of their clientele. “This observation led us to recalibrate our marketing approach, placing a heightened emphasis on digital avenues,” said Khare.
He further added, “Our promotional efforts are primarily digital-focused, accentuating areas like social media engagement, search engine outreach, content-driven marketing, and targeted online advertising. As we approach the festive season, we've fine-tuned our online approach. By harnessing the insights from data analytics, we aim to grasp our clients' needs and inclinations better, ensuring our content is both tailored and pertinent.”
Khare also mentioned that Baja Capital has doubled its advertising budget compared to the previous year.
“This increase in our ad spend signifies our confidence in the opportunities this festive season presents. This impressive surge in our budget allocation underscores our dedication to maximizing the potential of this festive season and driving significant expansion within our business. We firmly believe that this increased investment in advertising will not only elevate our brand presence but also lead to an exceptional uptick in customer engagement and sales.”
For Policybazaar.com, the media strategy primarily involves a blend of television and digital platforms, an approach that has remained consistent in recent years and is expected to continue in the foreseeable future.
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OMD appoints Dileep Raj Singh as Head of Digital for APAC
Singh will report to Charlotte Lee, CEO of OMD APAC
OMD has added a Head of Digital (HOD) to its Asia Pacific (APAC) regional leadership team with the hiring of Dileep Raj Singh.
Singh is a digital native and brings with him a wealth of experience across product, media agency and client side in APAC, North America and the United Kingdom. His last 10 years have been spent building diverse digital marketing teams covering areas like performance marketing, digital media planning, ad/martech, product marketing, branding and measurement.
As HOD, he will accelerate OMD’s digital leadership agenda, rooted in helping clients address their business challenges and digital ambitions. He will be supporting OMD’s local teams in APAC on operational excellence, and digital transformation frameworks and roadmaps; and the development and implementation of our digital leadership agenda. He will also be working hand in hand with both our regional and global networks to initiate complementary workstreams for our clients in APAC.
“We will continue to invest and win in digital as part of our wider goal to be our clients’ most trusted business transformation partner,” said Charlotte Lee, CEO of OMD APAC.
“It is our global ambition to continue our leadership position in digital, data and technology. In line with this ambition, we are excited to have Singh come on board the OMD APAC leadership team. His background of agency, in-house and start-up experience position him perfectly to understand and address our clients’ business needs,” added Lee.
“Digital media and access to our audience, as we know it, is changing quite rapidly around us. This puts most of us in a delicate but remarkable position, a position from which we can shape and contribute to conversations about the next evolution of digital media. As we embark on this journey, I want to leverage the strength of the OMD network – people, technology, data, tools and platforms – to help our clients pivot and navigate through all the new and evolved possibilities in digital media. With this, I aim to position OMD as an unrivaled partner for our current and future clients; to dominate and succeed in this incredibly competitive and multifarious digital realm,” said Singh.
Singh will report to Lee, and work closely with the team including Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), David McCallen, and Chief Client Officer (CCO), Sadhan Mishra, to drive and support APAC local markets as well as regional clients on digital, data and technology needs.
Mishra was promoted to CCO of OMD APAC recently in June 2023. He will continue to be CEO of OMD Singapore, a position he was promoted into last August. Mishra has been with OMD for over 13 years and in his concurrent new role as CCO, he will focus on key client relationships, understanding their business needs and ensuring we remain a critical partner on their transformation journeys.
McCallen was elevated to the role of CSO of OMD APAC in April 2022, and was previously the CSO of OMD New Zealand for five years where he helped the agency to attain the top place in the market for new business, overall billings and award wins. Since starting in the APAC role, his focus has been on connecting and elevating strategic best practices across the region, building capabilities across a range of strategic outputs, and supporting new business growth both regionally and locally.
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Chandrayaan 3: Brands over the Moon
Some of the best moment marketing posts on India's crucial lunar mission
The nation is in a celebratory mood with its moon mission Chandrayaan 3 making its smooth landing on the lunar surface on the evening of August 23, 2023. The Pragyan rover is in pursuit of discovering water on the moon and is a vital feat for India's ambitious space research.
To celebrate this momentous episode in Indian space research history, netizens have taken to the internet to express their excitement, hopes and fears for the nation's lunar mission. Joining them are brands who have crafted creatives to mark the historic occasion and capture the emotions of the nation who have their eyes set on the moon. Here is our pick of some of the best Chandrayaan 3-moment marketing posts.
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BCCI rakes in Rs 4670 cr in Women's Premier League team auction: Jay Shah 26 Jan
WPL has broken the inaugural auction record of Men's IPL in 2008, tweeted Shah
As expected, Wednesday turned out to be another historic day in Indian women's cricket with BCCI having a windfall gain of Rs 4,600 crores by auctioning five team franchises for the first season, a higher sum compared to what men’s IPL franchises offered to the cricket body during the launch in 2008.
Adani, IndiaWin Sports, Royal Challengers, GSW- GMR cricket and Capri Global have won the bid, BCCI secretary Jay Shah tweeted.
Shah shared in a series of tweets, “Today is a historic day in cricket as the bidding for teams of inaugural #WPL broke the records of the inaugural Men's IPL in 2008! Congratulations to the winners as we garnered Rs.4669.99 Cr in total bid.”
“This marks the beginning of a revolution in women's cricket and paves the way for a transformative journey ahead not only for our women cricketers but for the entire sports fraternity. The #WPL would bring necessary reforms in women's cricket and would ensure an all-encompassing ecosystem that benefits each and every stakeholder.”
“The @BCCI has named the league - Women's Premier League (WPL). Let the journey begin…”
The country's top corporates had bid aggressively for the league. Over 16 groups including IPL franchise owners, Adani group, Torrent and Haldiram were believed to be in the fray.
Given the popularity of IPL in India, the event is touted to be a big draw for all stakeholders involved.
The BCCI was reportedly expecting ₹4,000 crore gain through team auction.
It’s noteworthy that Viacom18 has won the Women's IPL media rights for Rs 951 crore for the next five years creating euphoria around the league whose first season will be held in March.
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