MxMIndia

Category: Digital

  • India's 1st B2C MAS Report by Research NXT & Netcore aims to help marketers make right decision while evaluating and implementing Marketing Automation

    57 per cent marketers in India allocate appropriate budgets for Marketing Automation Solution

    By A Correspondent

     

    With ROI as the key parameter to measure investment, 57 per cent of marketers have allocated well-defined budgets for marketing automation spends. The latest B2C Marketing Automation Report India 2017 reveals that 70 per cent marketers in India have adopted Marketing Automation Solutions (MAS) to increase lead conversions. It further states that 48 per cent of marketers in India have already decided to include MAS in their marketing strategy.

     

    The report, being first-of-its-kind, produced by Research NXT in association with Netcore, is based on a survey from more than 150 top marketing professionals and CMOs of leading brands from different sectors across India.

     

    As per the report, the MAS category has grown by 36 per cent from 2016 to 2017, from 156 vendors to 212. There are more than 200 MAS providers available in the global market catering to the needs of B2B and B2C marketers. The number of Indian service providers is also growing at a faster pace, with India ranking third in terms of MAS providers after USA and UK with more than 10 companies offering MAS solutions.

     

    The report highlights that more than 70 per cent marketers state that Email and SMS marketing are crucial features of the MAS mix. App engagement and segmentation are other two features that are gaining preference among Indian marketers.

     

    Said Santosh Abraham, Founder & Lead Analyst, Research NXT: “The report focuses on seven industry segments, i.e. BFSI, Telecom, Travel, e-Commerce, Pharmaceutical, Auto, FMCG and Consumer Electronics. It aims to provide insights on adoption of MAS specifically for the B2C market in India and identify most commonly used features, drivers, and channels while also providing insights on pricing models, ROI measurements and challenges while implementing MAS.”

     

    Commenting on the report findings, Kalpit Jain, CEO, Netcore, added: “It is exciting to know that the trend of marketing automation is gaining momentum in the India market. The rate at which it is growing, we are sure that in the next couple of years or sooner India will be on the same platform as US in terms of usage of technology in marketing. India is at an early stage of adoption and we have observed high level of awareness on the need and benefits of MAS among marketers. We believe 2017 will be the year of marketing automation adoption for majority brands in India.”

     

  • At the MMA forum in Singapore last week, Industry leaders call for new data-driven targeting, measurement & attribution frameworks

    Machine learning upends rules of mobile marketing

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Against the backdrop of a massive explosion of data, mobile industry players can harness the power of machine learning to transform complex data points into a tool for effective targeting and measurement, ultimately building trust in consumers and businesses alike. This was a key focus at the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) Forum Singapore 2017, attended by leading marketers, brand and agency representatives on June 9.

    Over 20 industry leaders took to the stage to discuss a wide range of topics – from programmatic and multi-touch attribution to vertical video and retargeting campaigns. “As we move forward, data insights are going to be very powerful, especially on mobile. Data like context, location, time of day to target consumers – no other media but mobile can give you that – and our next step is to channel this data towards building mobile as a reliable platform with the same accountability as any other platform,” said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director of the MMA in Asia Pacific (APAC).

    “Machine learning has been a huge talking point for our speakers, and for all good reason – multi-touch attribution is where our industry is heading towards, and this is something marketers have to start embracing,” Dadwal said. Hailing multi-touch attribution as the holy grail of marketing measurement, he added that it will pave the way for agile marketing by improving transparency and verification of data, standardising terms and performance metrics, while linking advertising data from many touchpoints – effectively resolving key challenges currently faced by mobile marketers. He explained that achieving multi-touch attribution is difficult, as it requires advanced analytics of user level data to allocate proportional credit across various marketing touchpoints. However, as big data increasingly comes into focus, so would the development of multi-touch attribution and machine learning.

    Echoing Dadwal, Sapna Chadha, Head of Marketing, Google India and Southeast Asia, said: “We’ll soon be seeing a massive explosion of data, from 16 ZB today to 163 ZB by 2025.” In fact, some telecommunications companies in India are making their data available, and Tom Simpson, Director, Growth and Programmatic, APAC, AdColony, believes “telco data is one of the best for targeting.”

    Chadha called for industry players to channel user data into machines, to allow them to develop the discretion and intelligence needed to optimise outreaching and advertising. From personalising advertisements at scale to automating bidding processes, machine learning is revolutionising digital advertising, helping marketers achieve more in scale, speed and efficiency.

    Industry leaders emphasised the need to harness data-driven insights to reach the right consumers on the right platforms. Amidst rapidly declining attention spans, strategic targeting, be it through innovative technology or contextual storytelling, has become all the more important.

    “If you can’t hook consumers within two or three seconds, you might as well not do it at all,” said Richa Goswami, Head of Digital and Innovation, APAC, Johnson & Johnson, calling for marketers to marry content and context to tell compelling stories on relevant platforms. Similarly, Jayesh Easwaramony, VP and GM, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, InMobi, said: “The first 15 seconds of a video count in driving brand recall. If you’re still doing 30-second pre-roll ads, you’re doing it wrong.”

    At the same time, speakers cautioned that marketers might risk losing consumer trust if they carry out excessive and unstrategic targeting. Graham Kelly, Founder, Originate Pte Ltd, expressed concern over the recent allegations against Facebook advertisements targeting emotionally vulnerable and insecure youth who are more susceptible to buying products. Creative solutions to tackle other roadblocks in targeting such as ad-blocking and declining app downloads, were also discussed at the Forum. For instance, Video Ad Serving Template (VAST), vertical video, interactive video and 360 video, were highlighted as effective tools in driving viewability, as well as buffer-free, immersive and meaningful user experiences.

     

    Way Forward

    The data explosion is creating new questions and complex challenges for the industry, and leaders across various industries – marketing, agency, DSP and measurement – called for new data-driven metrics that are responsible, accountable, and reliable, as they are critical in informing mobile spend, driving programmatic adoption, and boosting trust in the industry.

    “If a consumer switches across their three devices, are they counted once or thrice?” Joanna Wong, Head of Business Marketing, Asia Pacific, Spotify, asked. Likewise, Bryan Kim, APAC Managing Director, TUNE, said cross-channel measurement and attribution is a top priority among 57.1% of marketers in 2017.

    According to Matthew Talbot, Chief Executive Officer, BBM, even though messaging apps now see more people today than social media does, little marketing spend is being channelled to messaging platforms. With better measurement standards, this disconnect between consumer habits and marketing efforts can be reconciled. Speaking on a panel on programmatic revolution, Joe Nguyen, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, comScore, Inc., said data is currently missing in the use of programmatic in APAC, and the industry needs more data and better metrics that can inform programmatic buys in delivering desired return on investment.

    Beyond data, the panellists agreed that buyer trust is important in improving evaluation metrics. Andrew Tu, Vice President, APAC, Tapad, asked: “How do we convince a brand marketer to spend money programmatically? It all boils down to trust in measurement standards.”

    In a similar vein, Kenneth Chow, Commercial Director, SEA, Adobe Advertising Cloud, Adobe, said: “Our industry is still trying to determine if we can trust that we’re reaching and engaging the right audiences using our existing metrics.” Dadwal harked back to the need for reliable measurement in his closing speech: “To truly position mobile as a formidable platform equalling TV, we must make it attributable. Businesses need to know the exact impact on their ROI and sales, or they wouldn’t be able to justify the hefty investment they have made into this tiny device.”

     

  • Sun NXT, as the name suggests, is all about the digital, multi-screen, global future of content

    Sun TV launches digital content platform Sun NXT

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sun TV has launched its new digital content platform Sun NXT. According to a communique, there 1.1 million downloads within hours of the launch.

     

    With a film library of over 4000 titles, over 40 channels streaming live, catch-up TV and everything else that a viewer looks for in a world class digital content platform, Sun NXT aspires to be the global destination of choice for content in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

     

  • Launches Play My Play which brings theatre to television and Hare Krsna which focuses on eternal well-being

    Hathway adds two more service categories under Hathway Special

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hathway Digital has announced the introduction of ‘Play My Play’ a service that will feature full-length plays for Hathway’s theatre-loving patrons and ‘Hare Krsna’ which focuses devotional learnings from ISKCON. Hare Krsna will be available initially only in Maharashtra with a subsequent rollout across India.

     

    Speaking on the success of Hathway Special and the addition on the new services, TS Panesar, CEO – Hathway Video Business said: “The unbound success and continued positive response we have been receiving for Hathway Special reiterates the fact that we are living up to our promise of delivering unique and unparalleled Value Added Service for our customers. With the launch of Play My Play and Hare Krsna, we will be adding two new categories of services under the Hathway Special brand for the benefit and convenience of our subscribers. There is a lot of unique and diverse content available which also has a huge appeal independently and making this available for our subscriber first is our priority. We will continue to expand our service categories for the benefit of our subscribers.”

     

  • The market grew at a CAGR of 30&, between Dec 2011 & Dec 2016

    Digital Commerce to reach Rs 220,330 cr by Dec 2017: IAMAI-IMRB

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Digital Commerce Market has grown at a CAGR of 30 per cent, between December 2011 and December 2016 to reach INR 168,891 crores by the end of December 2016. It is estimated to reach INR 220,330 crores by December 2017, according to the Digital Commerce report 2016, published by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB Kantar.

     

     

    The report finds that Online Travel industry continues to grow strongly with 56 per cent share while share of online non-travel has improved over the previous year to reach 44 per cent.

     

     

    Domestic air ticket and railways booking continue to be among top contributors to the Online Travel spends. These were the segments that were the top contributors in previous year also. Hotel Booking has seen a substantial growth of 60 per cent, from INR 5200 crore in December 2015 to INR 8320 crore in December 2016. Domestic Air Tickets Booking is the highest contributor in this segment and has grown 20 per cent from INR 31,619 crore to INR 38,160 crore in 2016. The online travel market is expected to reach close to INR 1, 18,598 crore by December 2017. The segment was valued at INR 95,198 crores in December 2016.

     

     

    The report also finds that E-Tailing maintained a strong performance with 59 per cent growth. In the E-Tail category, Mobile Phone and Mobile Accessories continue to be the top contributor to the overall pie. Another product category that has registered sharp growth is apparel, personal health care products and accessories. These two categories collectively account for 60 per cent of the overall spend in E- Tail segment. The E- Tail segment is expected to reach around INR 94,964 crores by December 2017. It was pegged at INR 59,876 crores in December 2016.

     

     

    The report also finds that Online utility services market (eg: payment for DTH/ Telephone Bills/ Electricity Bills etc) registered close to 20% growth between 2015 and 2016. The market reached close to INR 6277 crores in terms of overall online transactions as on December 16.  The segment is expected to reach INR 7,532 crore by December 2017.

    Other online service market that includes online bookings done for entertainment, online grocery and online food delivery, was pegged at INR 3823 crores in December 2015. In December 2016 the market reached close to INR 4,170 crores. Online food delivery is the top contributor within this segment with a market value of INR 2,040 crores. This growth is expected to continue in future and the market is expected to reach INR 4,587 crores by December 2017.

     

  • Scoredata's analytic tool will help consumer goods companies including banking and financial services, insurance firms, telecom service and retail companies to unlock their full data potential

    MRSS adds big data tool to provide ‘Predictive Analytics’

    By A Correspondent

     

    BSE-SME listed Majestic Research Services and Solutions has formed an alliance with California-based global data analystics firm – ScoreData to streamline sophisticated analytics in customer engagement. As part of the alliance, MRSS clients will mine new data sources, modeling on the ScoreFastâ„¢ run-time platform to uncover insights quickly for data analysts and business managers alike.

     

    “With the Indian economy on the cusp of a major tax reform that is set to galvanize the economy, the alliance would leap-frog MRSS India into the next level and gear itself for several new opportunities that are set to open up in this emerging market,” said Raj Sharma, chairman, MRSS India. Scoredata’s analytic tool will help consumer goods companies including banking and financial services, insurance firms, telecom service and retail companies to unlock their full data potential.

     

    Added Vas Bhandarkar, CEO, ScoreData: “The current ways of gleaning useful digital signals are too cumbersome and silo’d for most businesses. Our partnership with MRSS gives customers quick access to making sense of their data constantly and quickly, in a broad range of use cases from financial services to retail to media and more.”

     

    Said Sarang Panchal, Managing Director of MRSS on the alliance: “Every company we encounter seems to have multiple strategic digital data initiatives, but tangible result in a reasonable timeframe eludes them. Working with ScoreData positions us to bring amazing value to our customers, spanning machine learning, domain expertise, and process depth for turnkey solutions.”

     

  • Previously, he has worked with VML Qais and Lowe Lintas

    Boris Gomes to lead DY Works’ digital practice arm

    By A Correspondent

     

    Boris Gomes

    Leading strategic design and consultancy firm DY Works announced the launch of an integrated socio-digital practice. This practice will provide clients with seamless online and offline digital platforms based on culture, to create disruptive business interventions.

     

    Boris Gomes will lead this innovative practice and brings on board his experience in user experience design, user interface design, video/animation production, social media strategy and design as well as interactive on-ground activation experience design. Previously, he has worked with VML Qais and Lowe Lintas. He is an alumnus of Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology.

     

    Commenting on the announcement, Alpana Parida, Managing Director, DY Works, said: “We don’t see digital as a medium, we see it as a destination. A whole generation of Indians will be digital natives and our practice seeks to understand how they inhabit this world one moment and cross over to the ‘real’ one the next! Boris does not follow a formulaic path and approaches each assignment with a deep empathy for the user. His approach is helping us build a totally different socio-digital practice.”

     

    Added Gomes: “I’m looking forward to creating un-paralleled digital experiences for clients based on DY Work’s unique knowledge of semiotics and understanding of behaviour and culture, ethnography and the science of choosing which will allow our clients to engage meaningfully with consumers.”

     

  • First Economy will now be leading the creative strategy, communications design and execution mandate for the social media platforms of Akbar Holidays

    First Economy bags social media mandate for Akbar Holidays

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digital marketing agency First Economy has bagged the creative strategy, communications design and execution mandate for all the social media platforms of Akbar Holidays.

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Jigar Zatakia, CEO, First Economy said: “We are extremely delighted to work with Akbar Holidays. Travel as a discussion point witnesses many conversations around it. Some are delightful and some are of distress. Our aim is to address these pain points with Akbar’s best in class service. Our team is exited to take off on this new journey with Akbar. We have also been associated with Akbar Travels for over two years now and it is an immense pleasure to acquire the mandate for Akbar Holidays as well.”

     

    Added Benzy Nazar, CEO, Akbar Holidays: “In the travel space social media plays a very important role in a consumer’s life. Check-ins at destinations or selfies at an exotic location have now become a way of life. With the help of First Economy we will we working on a communication strategy to make Akbar a part of every Holiday that the consumer takes be it within India or internationally .”

     

  • Retail websites most visited in 2016, followed by media & entertainment and travel

    Smartphones driving website traffic for multiple brands, notes Adobe report

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    A new Adobe Digital Insights report, Best of the Best JAPAC, highlights the internet usage trends demonstrated by consumers in the developing countries and the role played by smartphones in driving new internet users.

     

    The report leverages Adobe Analytics to aggregate anonymous data from 100 billion visits to more than 3,000 websites in Asia, including 16 billion visits from India. It presents the average and top performing benchmarks across industries including Retail, Media and Entertainment, Travel and Hospitality, Financial Services, and High Tech and looks at parameters such as share of smartphone and desktop visits, stick rate, conversion rate and minutes per visit among users.

     

    “With the growing smartphones penetration, consumers are establishing their digital presence and gaining more opportunity to interact with brands. Brands that adopt mobile strategy and offer a compelling and consistent customer experience are driving better business results and will continue to maintain a lead over the competition,” said Becky Tasker, Senior Managing Analyst, Adobe Digital Insights, ‎Adobe. “India is on the verge of becoming a digital-first nation and as smartphone adoption levels increase. In times like these, where opportunities for digital success are in abundance, the need to constantly evolve or provide value has become vital for brands.” Added Tasker.

     

    Spotlight findings for India include:

    [] Volume in smartphone traffic is growing in India across all industry sectors, but grew fastest in Retail with 45.3 per cent average year on year growth, followed by Media & Entertainment sector at 39.2 per cent and Travel & Hospitality at 34.4 per cent.

    [] Gaps in smartphone traffic widened dramatically between the best industry performers in the Finance sector as well as Media & Entertainment. Leaders are pulling away to capture higher share of traffic versus their competitors. In this respect, the best performers in Retail had the greatest gap between the best and the rest, with smartphone share totaling 67.8 per cent. Top performers in Media & Entertainment sat at 53.0 per cent. Top performers Finance recorded a much lower performance of 22.1 per cent, suggesting there’s still room for fast-moving and innovative players in this sector to attract customers post-demonetization phase in the country.

    [] Desktop share of visits were down YoY in every industry except for Finance, indicating consumers in India continue to access financial content on the desktop device. Desktop share of visits in Travel & Hospitality and Retail sector decreased the fastest in 2016.

    [] Mobile optimisation is playing a big role in helping consumers complete their digital needs faster, reducing their overall online time. This underscores the pressure on brands to get it right the first time, by driving innovative and personalised online engagements.

  • The mandate covers overall digital & social strategy, media planning and buying

    Bottle Openers wins digital business for Hudson Canola Oil

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hudson Canola Oil,  a brand owned by  Dalmia Continental, announced that it has appointed Bottle Openers Pvt. Ltd. as itss digital agency on record. The mandate covers overall digital & social strategy, media planning and buying.

     

    Canola is one of the fastest growing edible oils in the world. Recommended for its health benefits, it is the No.1 oil in Canada and Japan. In the US and Australia, Canola is the second most preferred oil. It is popular in Mexico, Singapore, China, Thailand, the Nordic countries and is fast becoming well known to health-conscious families in India as well.

     

    Speaking on this occasion, Himani Dalmia, Vice President, Dalmia Continental, said, “We launched Hudson Canola Oil in 2007 and the brand is poised for take off.  We project 700% growth over the next 5 years. After creating the leading brand of olive oil in the country, Leonardo, which we divested to Cargill in 2014, we are very excited about growing Hudson into a household name as well. Currently, the awareness level of Indian consumers on the health benefits of Canola oil is still low. Through digital marketing efforts, our prime objective is to educate consumers about this category as well as the importance of including Canola oil in their daily diets. Indians today are becoming immensely health-conscious and this presents huge market opportunity for us. Our expectation from our digital partner, will be to come out with innovative creative and media solutions to raise awareness as well as help us drive business growth.”

     

    Also speaking on the partnership, Sachin Kumar, Founder and Managing Director, Bottle Openers, said, “We are honoured to partner with Dalmia Continental as their digital agency on record. FMCG is one of our core areas of focus and have significant expertise in this space with Cargill Leonardo Oil &Nestle . We hope to take some unique and focused approach in building the business.

     

    Elaborating on the media responsibilities for Hudson Canola, Saurabh Kapoor, Co-founder and CEO, Bottle Openers, said, “The market for Canola oil category is in a nascent stage right now but has huge potential, hence provides us with good growth opportunitites. We will apply cutting edge sharp media strategy to reach out to health seekers in India.”

     

    Bottle Openers, was founded in August 2015 and since then has seen immense success in the highly competitive digital landscape, winning digital business for companies across industry sectors like Fashion, Auto, Footwear, Real Estate, FMCG. The company was founded by Sachin Kumar, who used to head Digital business for Motivator India, a Group M company, prior to this. The company also hired Saurabh Kapoor, ex. Digital head, Koovs.com as the co-founder in December last year.

     

  • This alliance includes acquisition of Httpool India that was founded in 2010 and has offices in Mumbai & Delhi

    IMS Internet Media Services acquires majority stake in Httpool

    By A Correspondent

     

    IMS Internet Media Services (IMS), a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television Networks and a leading digital ad sales and media buying companies in Latin America, announced it has reached an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Httpool, an international cross channel ad network, with a presence in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia.

     

    Subject to regulatory approval, the deal will create one of the largest digital marketing and ad sales companies in the industry, with a combined operation supporting more than 6000 agencies and brands worldwide, and exclusively representing Twitter, LinkedIn, Spotify and more than 5000 global and local publishers across 30 countries in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Asia Pacific regions.

     

    This alliance includes acquisition of Httpool India that was founded in 2010 and has offices in Mumbai and Delhi, working with over 300 brands and executing over 2500 campaigns annually, across all channels of digital advertising.

     

    Said Gastón Taratuta, CEO and founder of IMS: “This acquisition will enable IMS to develop some of the highest-potential geographies across Europe and Asia, and create a truly global company. IMS and Httpool together can offer an end-to-end solution in digital marketing campaign delivery, helping partners with our deep knowledge of local markets, and empowering local publishers, advertisers and 1000s of digital professionals and entrepreneurs.”

     

    NP Singh

    Added NP Singh, CEO of Sony Pictures Network India: “With the coming together of IMS and Httpool, we enhance our digital offerings to include superior services for ad targeting and delivery. Moreover, this allows SPN to augment its service offerings to an already robust list of advertisers. This initiative will go a long way in helping us grow our digital business.”

     

    “We have always been committed to providing cutting edge technology and media products along with exceptional services with access to best practices, and joining the Sony-IMS family enables us in taking this ambition forward. Integration of Sony’s eminent presence in the country and Httpool’s expertise will further elevate the digital advertising experience for all our partners and provide us with a platform to create a greater impact in an exhaustive market like India. This association will not only help Httpool India to showcase our expertise but also fuel our growth to help expand our proprietary solutions across the market.” said Sunny Nagpal, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Httpool India.

     

  • The new shows will be available on their app IVMPodcasts, iTunes, Soundcloud and all other podcasting platforms

    Vox Media looks to expand reach to a wider listener base

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digital audio content creator Indus Vox Media has launched two new podcasts titled ‘Anything But Bollywood’ and season 2 of their popular show ‘The Rediscovery Podcast’.

     

    In the Bollywood show, independent filmmaker Neha RT will sit down to talk to some of India’s best creators and filmmakers about art, cinema, inspiration and pretty much anything but Bollywood! The Rediscovery Podcast is a travel show with Ambika Vishwanath and Hoshner Reporter as hosts.

     

    Said Amit Doshi, Founder, Indus Vox Media: “We have been growing steadily in the last couple of years, we have received a lot of positive feedback for our existing shows, and this motivates us to explore various new subjects and genres. With every new podcast, we want to expand further and reach out to a wider and varied listener base.”