Mumbai: The pandemic has brought a change in the marketer’s playbook over the last two years, challenging the existing guidelines on brand building and customer relationships. The second day of the ‘Digital Brand Fest 2022’ organised by Indiantelevision.com saw an interesting discussion centered on this new-found marketing reality in a session on ‘Digital Marketing - The New Dynamic Shift Post Pandemic.’
The panelists included industry executives and marketers - BharatPe VP - Growth Ashish Agarwal, Omnicom Media Group Asia Specific chief digital officer Bharat Khatri, GoKwik co-founder & CEO Chirag Taneja, and Godrej Corporate brand and communications general manager Michelle Francis. The session was moderated by Tonic Worldwide Media CEO Chetan Asher.
The week-long virtual summit is presented by Voot, and Interakt, Josh, and Pixis have joined as industry partners.
Changing patterns of content consumption
Today consumers are spending an increasing amount of time on their smart devices and connected TVs, compelling businesses to take a relook at their digital marketing goals. “There has been an increase in Digital spending by brands over the last two years,” said Omnicon media’s Bharat Khatri. “The Indian market is in the midst of the narrative where Linear Television is increasingly being replaced by Connected TV.”
But, how have the large and legacy consumer brands dealt with this shift in the marketing paradigm? Are they still seen as a traditional marketing function?
According to BharatPe’s Ashish Agarwal, earlier traditional marketers had a tendency to look at Digital marketing as just another channel, but now they have realised that it requires a different skillset. “You need to think of it as a product and a technology function when you are processing such a huge amount of data. It requires a ‘product manager approach’ and more technical expertise to handle it,” he added.
Brands should consider digital marketing as a separate function that needs a specialised team, the panelists contended.
“We also need to define the ROI and business metrics,” said Godrej Corporate brand and communications general manager Michelle Francis, adding that digital also played a critical role in reputation building, and building a connect with consumers. In the case of digital, ROI is performance-oriented and one that usually gives instant gratification, he added.
The panelists also discussed the role of technology in marketing, on whether brands are building a marketing stack with MarTech, and if it is with a planned and sustained approach. They highlighted that most brands are open to the concept of additional tools to measure ROI, especially if a tool is able to decrease the brand’s cost per lead, and harvest a spike in sales and conversions by 10-15 per cent- which works as a good pointer for the brand. “You will see a lot of tools emerge which will cover up for talent gaps – or enablement products. Similarly, in the e-commerce space in India there are many companies trying to improve the funnel,” noted GoKwik’s Chirag Taneja.
Omnicom Media Group Asia Specific chief digital officer Bharat Khatri said the investment is already happening from the agency's point of view. “We have a separate division called analytic, which works mostly on the martech deployment tools, technology, etc. The new truth now is- marketing begins if you know your customer segment well, as opposed to ‘knowing your customer’ previously,” he added.
With all the chatter going around on Web 3.0, NFTs, and the Metaverse, will brands be able to leverage the buzz? It’s a “marketers’ paradise” and it’s here to stay – just like the new normal of the virtual world we have gotten used to, highlighted the panelists, adding that its scope goes beyond gaming. “Metaverse is going to be more powerful, when it comes to Web 3.0, digital economy, more so, creator economy,” said Michelle Francis. “Although I don’t see many brands integrating themselves as of now with it, it’s a great opportunity for the brands that are navigating it, for sure.”
According to panelists, the challenge for brands now is to outdo themselves each time. They need to deliver better than what they delivered last time. “The ‘Test & learn’ kind of approach- that’s something that works better in a Digital world because you know what works and by how much. So keep testing, learn from it and incorporate it,” said BharatPe VP - growth Ashish Agarwal.
There is also a need for stronger measurement metrics. To summarise what we need in this fast-paced, constantly evolving digital ecosystem is agility, flexibility, value-added customer experience, and constant iteration, the panelists concluded.
