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Tag: Hanneli Slabber

  • It also found that inspirational, funny and entertaining content are most likely to be shared on social platforms followed by personal, news and educational content

    Waggener Edstrom’s report throws up interesting insights on content relevance

    By A Correspondent

     

    Waggener Edstrom India, a independent integrated communications agency recently released a research report on changing patterns of digital engagement in India and its impact on brand advocacy: Content Matters: The Impact of Brand Storytelling Online in 2015”. The report reveals that 73 percent of Indians recommend brands with a greater digital footprint and higher levels of online social engagement. It also found that inspirational, funny and entertaining content are most likely to be shared on social platforms followed by personal, news and educational content.

     

    The report explored the correlation between devices and social media platforms relating to purchase behavior and how those dynamics vary across nine industries: Beauty, Consumer Electronics, Finance & Banking, Food & Beverage, Healthcare, Mobile Devices & Tablets, Personal Care, Restaurants & Dining, and Travel & Tourism.

     

    Key findings of the report include the following:

    • The rise of smart phones: Smart phones at 40 percent are a very close second to personal computers at 52 percent as the device of choice to access information related to purchase decisions. Tablets are yet to catch on amongst Indians as the device of choice. However, 91 percent have access to computers whilst 85 percent have access to smart phones.
    • Content is king: 9 out of 10 Indian respondents are likely to follow a brand on social media where 29 percent seek general news about the brand while 27 percent want to receive discounts and promotional offers and 23% are in search of better customer service.
    • Facebook and WhatsApp lead the way: 29 percent of consumers polled indicated that Facebook remains the top social media platform preferred by Indians for sharing content, followed closely by WhatsApp (26 percent)
    • Consumption habits: Although 16% use search engines and another 16% are fans of word of mouth, whilst 14 percent use company websites, review sites, social media, traditional media, forums, blogs, IM and online news are all popular too. When it comes to recommending brands to friends and family, 73 percent of digital savvy respondents are willing to recommend brands that they have a high level of engagement with online.

     

    The report was released at an industry round table comprising marketers, communications leaders and business heads on ‘How can brands best digitally engage with the consumer for maximum advocacy?’ moderated by Madhuri Sen, Managing Director, Waggener Edstrom Communications.

     

    Setting the stage for the discussion, Sen said: “Effective brand storytelling requires an ecosystem of media with both online and offline touch points. However, the dominant platforms shift according to industry and geography. Organizations are now recognizing the need to move away from what was a higher channel focus to a content focus. It is important to figure out the content and then the channel as opposed to having the media plan in place and then deciding the content.”

     

    Addressing the panel, Carolyn Camoens, Regional VP, Waggener Edstrom Communications, APAC said: “I’m not going to share what I had for lunch today. But if there is something funny or inspirational I am sharing that. So it still goes back to the nature of that content that is being shared and how much value it has for the Indian consumer. I know pictures of my half-done kitchen are not interesting to you, but me saying ‘my home coming together’ is sharing an emotional experience with your network. That’s what brands need to connect to.”

     

    Siddharth Sankhe, India Lead, Insights & Analytics, Waggener Edstrom Communications said: “Things are changing at a good pace with regards to inclusion of smartphones in the daily lives of people. Brands need to acknowledge this and create mobile ready content which is easy to consume and share. Computers still stand as an important device for a lot of other functionalities, but smartphones are replacing computers as the primary device of information consumption”

     

    Adding to the shift in smartphone related behavior, Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager – India, South Africa Tourism, shared a travel based perspective – “If I am standing on the top of Table Mountain which overlooks Cape Town, and I can be on Facebook in 30 seconds – I’m there. You got a much bigger bragging factor when you say – this is where I am, wish you were here.”

     

    Nandini Goswami, Director, Corporate Communications, Kellogg, India, presented the flipside to this mobile and digital wave in India, saying: “While social media has its many positives, there is a negative side to this as well. With the rise in smartphones usage, dissatisfied customers have an additional channel to vent on. This means that they don’t give the organization enough time to respond as the issue has already been tweeted, retweeted and shared on Facebook. Each industry will be affected differently by this.”

     

  • The OOH campaign pans across 14 cities and in languages that resonate with Indian travelers

    DDB MudraMax-OOH crafts outdoor campaign for South African Tourism

    By A Correspondent

     

    In its continued efforts to attract more and more Indian travelers to South Africa, DDB MudraMax-OOH and South African Tourism have unveiled a new outdoor advertising campaign, #MeetSouthAfrica, by showcasing a diversity of experiences available in South Africa.

     

    The campaign outspreads to metro and tier-II cities in India such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Bengaluru among others.

     

    In an endeavour to resonate with the Indian travellers, the striking creative executions of the #MeetSouthAfrica campaign has been customized with the use of impactful one-liners in local languages that are engaging and appealing.

     

    The visuals integrate the underlying essence of the campaign through impactful illustrations on adventure, scenic beauty, wildlife and luxury experiences on offer in the country. The campaign includes media mix comprising of large format hoardings, bus shelters and ambient media such as malls in strategic locations to further enhance consumer reach.

    Commenting on the campaign, Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, South African Tourism, said, “Outdoor advertising is one of the strongest mediums of gaining widespread access to the nation’s holiday seekers. This year, we have customized our outdoor campaign to make it more local by highlighting South Africa’s unique experiences in local languages in a contextual manner. This idea came from the insight that we gathered during our interactions with Indian travellers, where after their visit to South Africa, they could best express certain emotions of experiences such as pleasure, eternity and beauty only in their mother tongue. Taking cue from this, we thought of bringing alive emotions that resonate with our customers at a regional level to draw a stronger connect with the potential travellers. We have also added some innovations in our outdoor creative work to demonstrate South Africa’s distinctive, spectacular and high quality tourism products and experiences that are amongst the world’s finest.’

     

    Mandeep Malhotra, President, DDB-MudraMax quoted, “South African tourism as always excites and induces prospective holiday goer’s with inciting creative on large format medium. The information dissemination with the creative are amazing and full of excitement. Handpicked sites and creative thought through for the locations differentiate it with other travel campaigns. We at DDB MudraMax love working on creating a lot of buzz around the campaign.”

     

  • South African Tourism has now started the campaign on television and outdoor to popularise the destination among Indian travellers

    South African Tourism launches ‘Leave ordinary behind’ ad campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    South African Tourism has kick-started its television, outdoor and cinema campaign in order to promote the destination inIndia. Post the launch of its cinema campaign recently, South African Tourism has now started the campaign on television and outdoor to popularise the destination among Indian travellers.

     

    The 20 and 30 seconds advertisement captures an Indian couple who share their mesmerizing experience of travelling toSouth Africa. The commercial captures the experience of adventure, nightlife, wildlife, luxury, wine route and beauty ofSouth Africa. With this advertisement, South African Tourism is reaching out to numerous travellers through various entertainment and news channels.

     

    Indian television has a lot of shows that have the potential to draw good viewership and South African Tourism is tapping this opportunity to draw more Indian tourists to the Rainbow Nation.

     

    Along with its television campaign, South African Tourism has also launched its outdoor campaign. Outdoor Advertising Professionals (OAP) has done the creatives and execution for the outdoor campaign. The upcoming campaign is spread across 16 types of media that comprises of 452 media units covering an outdoor space of approximately 1,90,000 sq ft across 22 markets. The various media chosen for the campaign are billboards, backlit walls, bus shelters, cantilevers, glass façades, flagpoles, gantries, glow cubes, king-long buses, metro signages, pole kiosks, subway panels, skywalks, standalones, malls and airport displays.

     

    Commenting on the campaigns, Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, South African Tourism, said: “Given the fact that Indian television is one of the strongest consumer influencers, we wanted to leverage the medium with the launch of our television campaign. The commercial aims to demonstrateSouth Africa’s warmth and affability through the eyes of Indians who have experienced the country. They are real people telling their story in their own words and we hope that the Indian viewers can connect well with the ad. With these two campaigns we want to intrigue desire towards the destination and aid brand recall towardsSouth Africa. We are confident that the television, outdoor and cinema campaign will definitely tempt the Indian audience to consider a holiday inSouth Africa.”

     

    South Africahas grown to become one of the most popular destinations among Indian tourists. South African Tourism has witnessed an exceptional 29.9 per cent increase in Indian tourist arrivals between January-September 2011 in comparison to 2010.