ad:tech New Delhi 2016 Marketing Takeaways

The first day of the event saw a huge participation from advertisers, publishers, service providers and many digital startups. The event saw Bollywood celebrities like Shilpa Shetty and R Madhavan sharing their tryst with brands, digital marketing, content and data metrics.

Publishers, marketers, service providers mull over the latest trends in content marketing, big data technologies, customer engagement and social media. Each presented their own point of views and experiences on how they worked in a given situation to resolve a problem and find a solution that suit the needs of the brand, improve ROI and increase customer recall.

 Namrita Mahindro, Senior General Manager, Mahindra Group shares her experience from a Data Analytics and Insights session. She says, “Today, we are receiving a lot of data from multiple sources. And, when I say multiple sources, these go beyond social media and Internet, such as a customer form, televisions, outdoors, feedback forms and many others, So, the velocity at which the data is coming in has increased tremendously. The key challenge in front of the Mahindra Group is to ensure the usage of data across its verticals. We are a diversified group with several business, so if we can use the same data to serve multiple interests, it can be very beneficial. So, brands need to start looking at data in a very holistic manner on how they can solve their multiple problems.”

Gunjan Soni, CMO and Head, International Brands, Myntra said, “If data is used in the right manner it cannot just move needles but mountains for brands. For brands, all that is required is the correct use of Big Data. Brands can provide personalized experience only if they have correct data. At Myntra, we have focused on correct use of data and also we aim to provide personalized experience to every user.

It is also important to understand what the data we have and where it came from. For example, a woman might be shopping from his husband’s phone. So, if a brand is getting 80% of female product orders from that particular source, they need to get it right that the user is a female and not a male. Today, times have changed. Earlier the ads and content was placed on conventions such as women like cooking, knitting, indoors and men like outdoors, cars. But this has all changed and is no longer true.”

Anisha Motwani, Business Strategist, Corporate Speaker and Columnist, pointed out that the audiences want relevant content and are not looking for anything and everything. “Today, the audiences are smart enough to find who is faking. They want relevant content and are not settled with anything and everything. Currently, we see a lot of content floating around us and people have to select the relevant ones. Also, content has moved beyond creatives. It is now about social conversations. The creatives have to be powerful and impactful. They need to connect with the audiences in the first 15 seconds else the audiences move out. The content needs to share what the brand really feels and it has to be real. In this case, briefing an agency does not work, because it cannot come from the heart that strikes the audiences. It is definitely not easy because storytelling is an art and its difficult. But I believe, marketers should again re-visit the skills needed for it,” she said.

Shireesh Joshi, Strategic Marketing, Godrej Group added by saying that the common thread in the discussion was that content is a strategic tool for communication in the current day and age. “Brands are releasing a lot of content to connect with their audiences across mediums. There are many players who are using it as a tool and as a result of rich and diverse content is reaching the people. Also, the stories that are to be told to the consumer should be more engaging and rich in order to leave a strong impression on the consumer,” shares Joshi.

Shubhodip Pal, COO, Yu Televentures opined that soon there will be a day when people will be able to interact with other people via devices other than phone or tab. “Recently, I texted a colleague in the media industry saying – ‘Sent From Dishwasher’ at the end of the phone. Now most of the messages sent from smartphones mention the model but I believe that the day and time are not far when devices that we think are good for a certain job will be able to interact,” adds Pal who has been newly appointed at the organization.

Deepak Sharma, Head of Digital Initiatives, Kotak Mahindra Bank shared that the times are changing and performance marketing is her to stay for long. “Today marketing cannot be done in silos. It is connected with the product, design, business objectives. So, today technology is at the heart of everything. And that is why we say that it is 360 degree marketing. The targeted marketing is becoming sharper, behavioral, multiple structured and has a strong digital footprint attached to it. In the current day and age, the idea is about marrying customer expectations to technology to produce the best results,” adds Sharma.

In another interesting session on New Rules of Content Monetization, Mahesh Narayanan, Global COO, Saavn pointed out that advertisers are investing in content and connecting with publishers to connect to their audiences. “They are creating and aggregating content relevant to the consumers and even working on creating strong dissemination systems for it. we will see a lot of interesting developments in future in this space”.