"Digital offers flexibility like no other medium"

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: As for market share, in the online advertising business, estimated by the Kelsey Group at $45 billion globally, Google leads the pack with 28.6%, followed by Yahoo! with 15.5%, while Microsoft has just 4.77% of the online advertising pie.

Typically, what is an FMCG company’s spend on the online media? Has this proportion changed significantly in recent years, with increasing internet penetration, availability of broadband, greater awareness etc?

That’s difficult to guess, because it varies widely. It’s rather sad that given their marketing acumen and customer reach, FMCG is a grossly under-represented segment in the online media market. As a result, they are unable to leverage our result-driven programmes.

Google “FMCG” and you get millions of hits, which just goes to prove their point of contact. An intelligent marketer would want to somehow manage these numbers, but for the FMCG industry here, it’s a huge missed opportunity. Some of our clients, particularly in the financial services and travel sector, are unbelievably sophisticated. They are good at what they do, but there are very few of those in the FMCG sector.

Digital is great for lead generation. Is it also good for brand building?

Absolutely. Supporting a search campaign with content network campaigns, targeting sites with relevant editorial can be an excellent way of establishing brand associations. Search is not just about shouting to catch passing traffic; it’s also about keeping your shop open to destination shoppers. Taking a cost-of-sale approach to search means those doors are always open.

Digital is perhaps the only kind of medium that start-ups can afford. Does this make it a small business medium?

On the contrary, it can be anyone’s—small or big—medium. A small artisan trying to sell his handicraft to a global audience from a hamlet in Rajasthan can use Google Adwords just as effectively as a multinational bank in America. The potential is definitely there, whether you want to scale up is a different matter altogether. Depending on his scale and infrastructure, he can put a cap on his online budget, which is not possible with the TV or print media, where a given spot or column inch space is always sold by a fixed value.

Critics say that because advertisers are confused by the nuances of the new medium, they often end up treating digital as any other media. What do you do to convince your clients to change this mindset?