I have been very fascinated by the Gillette India’s campaign India Votes: To Shave or Not, — a case study of using social media. It is now doing rounds on the international circuit, with it getting a big reception in the CM Summit.
According to a presentation given by Lucas Watson, global team leader for Procter & Gamble’s digital business strategy, at the CM Summit in New York, the Cincinnati-based firm used a “mix of paid media, earned media and social elements all working together” to grow sales.
The social angle was when the company created a Facebook page that allowed consumers to discuss these findings, based on the idea that to “debate, discuss and argue is in the blood of Indians. According to Watson it received a stupendous response… and further iterated that “it was adding the social mix that unlocked the value add”.
Again the results were mighty impressive, after 10 years of stagnation, the campaign set all time sales records with a sales increase of 38%. Awareness doubled. Trials increased by 400% and Gillette’s market share increased by 35%.
To conclude what we need with our clients today are:
a) Get them to go beyond “experimenting with Digital”! Please stop pushing “innovations” and trivialise the power of the medium and the intent of the communication
n Invest with conviction. And that conviction can only come when digital agencies put their money where their mouth is. How? By committing to empiricalise consumer results. Then you have client committed, results committed & measurements committed. This is serious commitment.
b) Use digital for what it is! Consumer connect, consumer conversations, consumer feedback, consumer sharing … etc … When we attempt to dovetail digital onto the mainline campaign - we take away from the strength of digital as a medium. So if i-phone could launch without a so-called mainline campaign & become a world-beater - that is the ideal that need to be chasing. In trying to play the smart, younger brother to mainline - digital only ends up dwarfing its deliveries!
c) Last, most of the times - digital does not have an independent idea of its own. We learnt in the ‘90s - that TV had to be written as TV … not an A/V adapt of a Press Idea. In digital the same applies.
— Ruchira Raina
(The writer is managing director, Dentsu Communications and Dentsu Media)
Banner-led plans OUT, digital media plans IN
The genesis of the internet has radically enhanced communication and the availability of information to the end user.
The evolution has been swift and the progressive trend shows no signs of slowing down just yet.
Similarly, evolving in tandem is the marketing possibilities on this virtual platform. What started off as basic online ads that were nothing more than digitised billboards have now grown into a gamut of available options like innovations, search marketing, social media etc.
With global trends indicating continuing decline of ad spends in traditional media, the “interest” and “investments” on the digital platform by advertisers seems to be steadily increasing.
In a country with a one billion population, a user base of 52 million net users may seem small when compared to penetration in mediums like print & TV. Nevertheless the picture completely changes when you go beyond the number of users and look at the quality of the audience present online.
Today we have 30 million WAP (wireless application protocol) users in India, 25 million unique users of Facebook and Orkut alone, zillions of Indian bloggers, MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) gamers and many more individuals and groups making their mark on the web space in their own unique way. Thus, the paradigm shift in 2010 will be using the power of browsing in a bigger, more diverse way to connect with an evolved audience on a dynamic platform.
The key expectation for digital media in 2009-10, will be the increase in “brand awareness campaigns” through rich media, contextual advertising and WAP.
The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) projects a 32% growth in online banner adspends, and the overall digital advertising pie is expected to reach a healthy Rs625 crore by the end of 2009-10 fiscal.
While advertisers will continue to perceive digital media as the new born baby and put merely 5-10% on it, the trend of including a digital component in every “marketing plan” will become more prevalent to a point where it will be indispensable.
Furthermore within digital, there will be a significant split between display ads (60%), search marketing (20%), ad networks(10%), social media(5%) and new digital media avenues like augmented reality (5%).
Thus the traditionally boring and CTR (click through rate) driven, banner led online plan will become a robust “Digital Media Plan” that will aim to reach the daily touch points of our target audience not merely by enhancing a brand’s visibility but by tantalising users with innovative campaigns that are possible solely on the digital platform.
— Saurav Chakraborty
(The writer is associate general manager, R K SWAMY BBDO Digital Direction)
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