Category: Advertising

Some five years ago, digital advertising was just 5 per cent of the total ad spending  of the companies. This has increased to 8-10 per cent currently. Most widely used digital advertising mediums are Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.

It is easier to connect with the consumers using digital advertising. The number of hits can be tracked. You can know how much traction the particular campaign or ad has generated.  Besides, it is more economical to use digital advertising. Its cost is lower by 40 per cent than TV advertising. Digital advertising is an apt medium to target youngsters.

Digital advertising was considered customised advertising to begin with. Since then digital itself is emerging as mass media on account of its increased reach. There are, however, many platforms which are offering segmented targeting. There is a provision to have multiple messaging that is tailored to audience. All this makes digital more attractive to the brand owners. In digital advertising, you can control the number of cities and the target audience. The increasing penetration of mobile connectivity has generated an audience that consumes digital content.

SilverPush has developed cross-device technology to track ads by connecting various mobile and digital devices. It maps users with their digital devices. It links TV with mobile to trace user interaction. Companies spend huge amounts on TV ads. As there is no information on user engagement with these ads, the success of these campaigns or demographics of the viewers cannot be determined. As it is, TRP rating of a channel has no correlation with the success of an advertisement. SilverPush offers ‘ television and analytics suite ‘. The companies can get information on the target audiences due to their patented ‘ audio beacon technology.’ A TV ad is integrated with inaudible frequency before it is aired. The moment it is played, the SilverPush SDK installed in the user’s smart phone is activated, which pairs it with the TV or computer. After pairing, it is mapped under a unique ID and a persona is created for the user. It does not encroach on the privacy of the audience, since the platform can be activated by inaudible sounds. It has been launched towards the end of  2914. It has mapped about 680 million unique device IDs till date using this technology.

Corporates these days seek digital narrative for their brands. Pepsico India recently launched #NaamBanteHainRiskSe for its drink Mountain Dew. Here the real life heroes are honoured when they go beyond the conventional and emerge victorious. A female amputee climbs Mt Everest. It is a short digital film. Consumers participate in this campaign. There are millions of calls for registration. There are several million views and lacs of shares. The company engages the consumers and hand over the reins of the campaign to them. These real heroes rise above fear, and break out of the ordinary. They emerge victorious. In the digital world, the consumer writes the brand story. Just a conventional ad placed in traditional media where the fuzzy logic dictates the future marketing strategy is not enough. We must learn the consumer’s neuroscience. A brand is less about what it tells people it is. A brand is more about what people tell other people it is . The companies will have to be more experimental. Mondelez has designed ‘Play with Orea ‘. The Development Bank of Singapore ( DBS ) serialised a love story Chilli Paneer on YouTube. Each episode was of 4-minutes. It explores the relationship of a Singaporean man and an Indian woman. The bank plays a mediator. The emphasis was on connectivity and building relations with the customers.

Copywriters are adept in English grammar, but do take liberties. They make complete sentences by using just verbs. They start sentences with conjunctions like ‘but’ and  ‘and’. They use split infinitives.

Copywriting is different from formal business writing, novel writing or journalism. In journalism, the task is divided among a reporter, sub-editor, lay-out artist, typographer and DTP operator. A copywriter’s task is an integrated one. He has to consider the entire ad copy consisting of headlines, body copy, illustration, sub-headlines, design, size and frequency from creative angle. He can be compared to a composer. His copy is a musical composition. A copywriter has to ensure that each note in it is in place, and adds to the tempo.

According to a recent forecast of GroupM, digital advertising stands at 9.5 per cent of total advertising, thus the size of digital advertising is Rs. 4661 crore. The total advertising is estimated to be Rs.48,976 crore. In another five years, digital advertising could touch 20-25 per cent of total advertising by which time, it would have crossed Rs. 10,000 crore mark.

In India, TV and print still remain the largest contributors to the total advertising. They stand at Rs. 22,446 crore and Rs. 16,872 crore.

It is not technology alone that spawns start ups.  Advertising too has start ups — agencies that aim to deliver creative solutions in a digital world. The existing agencies lack the technological competence. They are restricted to the TV  screen, whereas the consumers have jumped to the laptops and mobile screens. The ads are interactivity driven. There is a big opportunity  here to craft the content. Such start ups build up a niche expertise. Later they are open to equity partnership and buy outs. Social street, The Mob, Tango Media are such niche agencies at the cusp of advertising and technology. These start ups are set up by people who break free of the ad networks. Business and brands follow the creative people, and would shift to whoever they go. These start ups take care of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), consumer durables and e-commerce. Of course, big networks are bureaucratic and unwieldy. They may not foster creativity. Start ups have the freedom. They do attract big business, but over a period of time, whether the business will be adequately served or not is to be seen. There may be constraints operating on the start ups. There is no big network to support them.

Yester years advertising merely used to inform us about the availability of a product. This product has a set of features, 0f which one such feature puts it apart from the other competitive products. This is called its Unique Selling Proposition (USP). We moved the from products to brands. A brand is a name. It provides an identity. It takes years to build this identity. A brand goes beyond a name — it has a symbol, a colour, USP, slogan, a personality, a character, a charisma and brand experience itself. Brand experience makes it desirable to possess and use the brand.Brands are advertised. Brand managers decide the purpose of the brand to drive the advertising brief. It is expressed as Brand Proposition Statement (BPS). The agency works on it, and crafts an Advertising Proposition Statement (APS). This leads to the creatives.

Audio logos are short, punchy musical riffs that we hear at the end of the commercial, usually when the company’s logo pops onto the screen. Audio logos are generally two-to-five tone. These are used as communication tools, e.g. the roar of MGM lion or the ‘hoo-hoo’ of the Pillsbury Doughboy. They become identifying measures for a company.

Online videos carry ads and this is the fastest growing category of internet ads. Its growth rate is 30per cent year. Facebook and Google compete with each other in other type of ads. These days they are competing in the space of online video ads ( Google with YouTube ). In terms of the audience size, they are neck-in-neck. Facebook has around 1.3 billion. This  competition means that user will see more ads, but zt the same time they will enjoy a rich ranges of video programming.
Internet is expected to overtake TV advertising in 12 key market by2017.It represents 28 per cent of global spending.
Facebook video ads create general brand awareness. They could be pre-roll ads that marketing companies prefer to ensure their messages are actually viewed. YouTube is a flexible marketing platform. The ads runs before, during and after a video programme is shown. Facebook will have to satisfy the content owners that it is a viable alternative to YouTube. YouTube charges advertisers when on advertisement has been viewed. Facebook charges once three seconds of video has been delivered. It is a less friendly models.

The total advertising expenditure in 2015 is estimated to be Rs 54,320 crore, as compared to Rs 47,490 crore in 2014. The FMCG sector contributes most to this revenue — Rs 8000–9000 crore and is the number one spender. The telecom-mobile sector spends Rs 5000 crore each year, and should retain its number 2 position. Currently, the auto sector is the third hivhest spender — Rs 1500-Rs 2000 crore. The e-commerce companies spent Rs 1483 crore, and with a growth of  15-20 per cent, the e-commerce might overtake the auto sector to become the third largest spender.