MxMIndia

Category: MxM.DIGI

  • The GroupM CEO South Asia in conversation with Rishi Vora on growth areas for digital and how digital is at the centre of all business verticals

    A lot of change in world & media landscape is thanks to digital: CVL Srinivas

    The GroupM CEO South Asia in conversation with Rishi Vora on growth areas for digital and how digital is at the centre of all business verticals. Excerpts:

     

    How would you look at Group M’s focus on digital media? Where does digital stand in Group M’s priority list?

    Last year we got together as a team and we created a new vision for ourselves. The vision was to have digital at the heart of everything we do, to create a digital culture and to provide digital solutions to clients with new ideas, new approaches. We decided to do more of the new and less of the old.

     

    We created a three-year programme called the ‘New Me’. For GroupM, New Me is a repositioning in terms of how we approach business practices across the GroupM verticals. We want each and every member of the Group M community to take notice that the world is changing and that the rules of the game are also constantly changing.

     

    As a media agency brand we are No 1 but there is no guarantee we will continue to be No 1 if we continue to have the same approach we did for many years. The world is changing, the media landscape is changing and a lot of that change is happening due to digital. It is with this thought we came up with the New Me approach.

     

    So the agency has evolved from its core of being a media agency and that it is adding a lot many layers to it?

    Absolutely! Earlier the media planning and buying was the core business. But now we have changed the definition of Core. We have seen the growth happening in non-core areas, and we are in fact calling these non-core businesses the new core.

     

    At the industry level, what are the various initiatives GroupM is taking on the digital front?

    Last year we partnered with Social Media Week, an event which came to Mumbai for the first time. The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is another industry event which we are associated with. We, in fact, are setting up MMA in India this year to evangelise mobile as a medium to help rest of the industry and the ecosystem.

     

    Digital Rendezvous was another initiative, but that is more internal. Maybe at some stage we will take it to the industry.

     

    So everything is flowing in from the New Me philosophy which we have adopted. Even the tools that we have created and launched.

     

    As an industry we need to take notice of the changes happening and manage the transition from practices of the old world to the practices of the new world effectively. It means investments in new tools, knowledge, skill sets etc.

     

    Talking about the rapid growth of digital as is estimated in the report, what are the implications on advertisers?

    Advertisers will be keen on investing in digital as consumers have got many options in the digital space – be it social platforms or mobile apps. We are going to see a rise in the user generated content. So all these aspects will have a positive impact on the advertisers’ mind.

     

    A lot of advertising will come from the entertainment sector for the mobile industry as smaller towns and cities – the mobile device is also seen as an entertainment device given lack of infrastructure.

     

    How do you see 2014 pan out for social media as a business?

    In 2014, we will see the emergence of new platforms. While platforms such as Facebook will continue to do well, we will see a lot of brands moving towards, Instagram, Pinterest etc.

     

    Are we going to see a rise in M-commerce in 2014? What are the implications on the industry on that front?

    Yes, there will be a growth in the M-Commerce space as well. Research online (from a PC) and pay offline. The thing is shifting to research on mobile and pay offline. If operators can connect consumers with payment gateways on the mobile phones, there will be a huge growth in M-Commerce where consumers will start buying products and services from their mobile phones.

     

    To mention a few clients – Nokia, Vodafone, Perfetti, Pepsi – they all have taken mobile as a serious platform and they have kind of experimented with it. 2014 definitely see a lot of initiatives on the mobile advertising front.

     

    Overall digital pie is at 35 per cent, what is the share of mobile in that?

    Last year the size of mobile advertising was about Rs 350 crore. By the end of 2014, we should see that increasing to Rs 450 to 470 crore.

     

  • We kick off a new series of interviews with CMOs on their digital marketing initiatives. First off: Viral Oza of Nokia India

    Nokia engages with consumers, the digital way

     

    By Rishi Vora

     

    In a bid to increase its share in the highly competitive mobile handset category, Nokia’s marketing strategy puts digital in the centre of all its initiatives. A mix of social, search and mobile.

     

    Even though Nokia officials are tightlipped on the value of marketing spends, they do acknowledge a rise in digital spends in the past one or two years  where the endeavour is to create as many touchpoints for the brand and increase awareness across the company’s product range. The year 2014 will see a lot more action in the social and the mobile space.

     

    Chief Marketing Officer Viral Oza tells MxMIndia of the lastest digital campaigns, focus areas for digital in 2014 and more. Excerpts:

     

    It’s evident that digital is at the core of Nokia’s marketing strategy? What is the overall digital strategy that Nokia has in place for the Indian market

    At Nokia, digital marketing is an inherent part of Nokia’s marketing strategy and has been very successful with our core audience. We extensively use our portals and online initiatives to drive maximum consumer outreach for product and ongoing customer communication, customer service and customer engagement.

     

    Our digital strategy provides a window to engage proactively with customers; understand behavioural patterns; assess consumer needs and preferences and drive consumer awareness and loyalty for the brand.

     

    As a company, we have been very successful in terms of engaging our core audience in the digital space. The fact that Nokia is the third largest Facebook community in India and the only mobile handset brand with around 10 million fans is a testimony to the fact that we understand what the youth wants today.

     

    Nokia.com sees 12 million unique users a month; and our average monthly online reach is 70 million Indians. On Twitter, we have about 0.15 million followers; Nokia Google Plus has 0.525 million followers and Nokia YouTube has crossed 28.5 million views.

     

    Have we seen a significant growth in spends for digital in the past one or two years?

    As a policy, we cannot comment on spends. However, would like to highlight that we have been making steady investments in digital marketing and will continue to do so.

     

    If there is growth in the share of digital marketing for Nokia, where is the growth coming from? Is it primarily taking away from TV or Press?

    Digital marketing is a key pillar for Nokia’s strategy. Youth these days spend a lot of time on digital media. Having said that, we focus on digital along with other media including TV and Press or Mobile.

     

    How was the year 2013 from the POV of marketing initiatives taken keeping digital media in mind? Can you elaborate on a few digital campaigns that generated the requisite buzz for Nokia (in 2013)?

    One of the key marketing initiatives in the year 2013 was Nokia’s association with Social Media Week 2013 to connect with its core audience. Social media forums have become a parallel source of information about consumer preferences and consumer outreach along with the conventional statistical and marketing tools. It empowers customers with more options and more information to help them make informed decision. Nokia’s social media strategy has allowed us to drive two-way interactive communication with both existing customers and prospects and take consumer engagement to the next level.

     

    Key activities Nokia had undertaken as part of Social Media Week 2013 are as under:

    Be our Social Media Week Reporter: As SMW kicked-off around the globe, Nokia had taken people from four different countries including India, UK, USA and Germany; and has swapped their locations with one another. These participants recorded and broadcasted their adventure armed with the ultimate mobile reporting device: the new Nokia Lumia 1020

     

    Nokia PUCK: We  hosted the first Twitter-based Air Hockey Game called ‘Nokia PUCK.’ Nokia community anywhere could join in the fun and compete with other attendees and supporters across the globe.

     

    Is 2014 going to see a renewed thrust on digital? If yes, what would be the focus areas?

    As more and more consumers are spending a lot of time on digital media, digital would remain an important space to stay connected with our consumers. We will continue to engage with our consumers through this media to understand their needs better and will bring in various campaigns to provide amazing experiences to our consumers through digital media.

     

    We will look at coming up with fresh engagement ideas in the social space in order to engage with our huge fan-base on Facebook. As for engagement on the mobile phones, we will look to launch interesting and relevant apps and promote them heavily in the social space.

     

    What are the ongoing and upcoming digital campaigns and the response you are expecting from these campaigns?

    Recently Nokia announced the second season of its unique Campaign – Nokia Lumia: Your Wish Is My App (YWIMA). The YWIMA initiative delivers on Nokia’s strategy to focus on creating consumer-centric applications that deliver true value to the consumer. What made this campaign a huge success was the format of the show. Imagine, you wish for an app and it actually has a chance to be converted into a real app. It doesn’t matter who you are: a chef, a student, a free-lancer or a model. You can be anyone to participate in the campaign, all you need is that killer app idea that has the potential to be developed into a successful app on Windows Phone Store a Real App.

     

    Being a consumer centric campaign, Nokia Lumia – Your Wish is My App (first season) received outstanding response from consumers in terms of the app ideas. We have received over 38,000 app suggestions clearly highlighting consumer’s enthusiasm for such initiatives.

     

    There is a great demand for video on platforms such as YouTube. Is Nokia looking to use this channel/opportunity going forward?

    Video on Mobile is growing at a tremendous rate.  With increase in screen sizes and quality of display more than 40 per cent, consumers are already watching movies on their smart phones on the go; and an equal number are streaming videos online. In fact, according to Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights – Entertainment and online videos are growing in India at a year-on-year rate of 27 per cent. We see this trend to continue this year as well.

     

  • The annual adspend estimates digital to grow 35% in the overall 11.6% growth in adspends

    GroupM estimates: TV degrows, Digital, print grow

     

    By Rishi Vora

     

    At the launch of GroupM’s This Year Next Year (TYNY) Report  2014,  chief executive officer CVL Srinivas, while presenting the report to a media gathering in Mumbai, stressed on the media agency’s renewed focus on digital, and the need for a change in approach and mindset in order to be relevant with the changing business scenario.

     

    Mr Srinivas, of course, stated that in the context of GroupM’s advertising expenditure (AdEx) 2014 where digital is the fastest growing medium with a 35 per cent growth rate, followed by TV with an estimated growth rate of 12 per cent. It may be noted that TV’s growth has reduced from 13.6 per cent in 2013 to 12 per cent in 2014.

     

    Sector – wise growth
     

    Elections

    With general elections and 5 state elections on the anvil, government spending and political party election spending adding significantly to the AdEx of all media. It is estimated that the government spending will lead a 2.5 per cent growth in the industry.

     

    FMCG

    FMCG will continue to be an important sector for the industry as it accounts a 29 per cent share in total ad spends this year due to the following factors:

    [] Volume growth back for FMCG companies on the back of good monsoon and hence good rural income

     

    [] Raw material prices benign and hence more flexibility with advertisers

     

    [] Ad spends of most FMCG companies on the rise to ride on the back of higher disposable income due to election spending

     

    Retail

    The retail industry will experience growth from the entry of new players into the food and beverage segment, growth in E-commerce, and regional retailers  expanding their reach across markets in India.

     

    Auto

    Despite slowdown in the  four-wheeler segment, there is growth for entry level cars, sports and multi utility vehicles.  Two-wheelers to continue the focus on small town and rural India.

     

    Competition is likely to intensify  on the back of recent market developments leading to more launches by existing players, which subsequently mean higher ad spends.

     

    Telecom

    Smartphones penetration  is on the rise, however, stiff competition in the segment will continue. Phablets  and connected devices will gain popularity in 2014.

     

    Cellular phone service providers too will witness growth in revenue.  Service providers will bring down the price points for 3G, therefore completion is more likely to intensity.

     

    Banking, Financial Services & Insurance

    For the Banking and Financial Services and Insurance industry, year 2014 will see a revival happening with a likely reduction of interest rates. IPOs to pick up pre-election owning to better market sentiments.

     

    Recent RBI policies will result into a more favourable business environment and new bank licenses will push advertising expenditures of the category.

     

    The report estimates  that print will grow at  8.5 per cent in 2014 as against the 2013 estimate of 4.6 per cent, thanks to the growth in vernacular print publications across the country. The report also states that while newspapers  are to grow by 8.5 per cent, magazines will witness a negative growth of 5 per cent.  Outdoor will grow at 9 per cent, Cinema 12 per cent and Retail 8 per cent, states the report.

     

    If one looks at the sector-wise break up of spends, FMCG constitutes a majority share (29 per cent) followed by Consumer Durables (22 per cent)  and retail (12 per cent).

     

    CVL Srinivas

    Commenting on the growth prospects for the industry in 2014, Mr Srinivas said: “It’s going to be an okayish year for the media industry. I’m saying this because the 11.6 per cent growth estimate also accounts for the 2.5 per cent growth that will come from advertisements from political parties as the elections are around the corner. If you take elections out, which is a one-off event, the growth in 2014 is about 9 per cent.”

     

    He further noted that the growth of the industry will also depend on how things are panned out on the measurement front, on IPL’s success or failure and the outcome of the elections, which will have an impact on government policies.

     

    In his final remarks, Mr Srinivas said that the year 2014 will be remembered for two reasons — one being the fast growth of digital at 35 per cent as is estimated, and also the fact that the industry will cross the Rs 40,000 crore mark in 2014 from its current size of Rs 38,000 crore.