Reported By:
| Edited By: Devina Sengupta |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 16, 2018, 05:39 AM IST
As companies tighten ad spends during the downturn, the word-of-mouth campaign or virals have become the most-sought-after medium to increase brand recall. Usually a digital mainstay, they are present in other platforms as well.
The ad industry, which spent Rs 5,163.26 crore in FY 08-09, has taken a fancy for virals. Despite television having a large user base of 467 million versus the nascent internet with 47 million users, industry insiders say its sunny days for viral campaigns.
Increase in internet penetration (current penetration is 4.2% in India), lower ad spends and reduced rural-urban divide has pegged the digital medium to grow 44% in FY09-10.
Sidharth Rao, co-founder and CEO of online marketing agency Webchutney, said, “With the rise of online videos, viral marketing will gain strength and become one of the most sought after platforms for marketing. About 4 out of 10 marketers engage in viral campaigns.” He further added that with shrinking ad budgets, virals are the easier way to reach out to customers.
A Digital Media Report 2009 by Webchutney said 82% of the top 500 marketers surveyed allocate around 5% of their budgets to online marketing. The total ad spends on virals is set to increase by almost 90% in 2009-10.
Anand Karir, creative director, Tribal DDB India, said “Primarily, financial, telecommunications, automotive and the FMCG (primarily confectionaries) segments are seeing good opportunities in viral ads.”
Recent media reports stated online FMCG spends would grow 353% from Rs 16 crore to Rs 72 crore in 2009-10, while IT & ITeS and BFSI would grow 70% and 35%, respectively.
Rao also stated that consumer durables spent Rs 3.78 crore on virals in 2008. This was followed by the IT& ITeS sector with an ad spend of Rs 3.68 crore.
Ameya Gokhale, a senior copy writer at Lowe Lintas, believes that other advertising formats are cyclical, “but virals do not need a chalked-out life span. They may be in the form of video clips, flash games, e-books.”
However, Karir cautioned that virals don’t get enough attention from media planners unlike in the West.
