For Better or For Worse

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

: The findings of a global survey on advertising released recently forecasts greater disruption for the advertising industry in the next five years than we have seen in the previous 50. The report shows how empowered consumers, self-reliant advertisers and ever-evolving technologies are redefining how advertising is created, sold, consumed and tracked.

It says that by the year 2012, the global ad industry landscape will change so profoundly that to survive, players will have to innovate aggressively.

Note the emphasis on innovation. Something that captains of the media industry in India are not oblivious to.

Accordingly, major players in the media planning/buying sector are drawing up fresh gameplans to gain a competitive edge. For starters, Madison Media, which is among the leaders of the Rs 20,000-crore (projected for 2007) Indian advertising industry, is sharpening its focus on attracting the best talent in the industry. Competitor, Lintas Media Group, on the other hand, is scouting for options that are clutter breaking and have a strong synergy with its roster brands’ communication and the benefits they offer. Yet another major player in this segment, Optimum Media Solutions (OMS), is investing in tools that will help unearth fresh consumers insights.

The Starcom MediaVest group too is aware of the challenges. The Publicis group agency is planning to focus more on its clients and their business challenges than on compe-tition. “Nothing gives better competitive advantage in any industry than understanding your customers and their real world challenges,” says Ravi Kiran, CEO, Starcom MediaVest, South Asia.

With increasing competition, the industry is expected to witness a certain amount of consolidation over the next few years, say observers. “In this sector, conventional boundaries, mindsets and media buying patterns are changing almost every day,” says a media analyst based in Mumbai. “As a result, media agencies are constantly reinventing themselves. While in 2006 the industry grew at 15%, the general perception is that in 2007 it would have clocked 25% growth.

On Madison Media’s gameplan, Punitha Arumugam, group CEO, says, “Our core focus will be on the area of ideation and activation. We are looking at new strategic tools and processes for the purpose. We want to have enough versatility within the group to meet our client’s demands.”

As for Lintas Media’s core strategy, Sudha Natrajan, associate director of Lintas Media Group, says, “At a holistic level, partnership to result in a win-win for the advertiser—and of course, the agency—as well as the media supplier, is the most important objective. Opportunities to optimise these initiatives are the focus of our buying strategies at Lintas.”

In other words, innovation—whether in planning, buying or execution—seems to be the name of the game. According to Natrajan, Lintas Media’s clients like ITC really push the agency to the edge to innovate. “Such clients encourage us to look for more differentiated, more impactful and emerging media options,” adds Natrajan.

Citing the example of ITC’s Bingo, Natrajan says that Bingo’s association with Fever 104—at the time of its launch in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore—and the creation of the property Bingo Tick Tock Boing for radio has worked well for the brand. “We will continue to look for new initiatives in an aggressive manner,” she adds.

Across the road, Optimum Media

Solutions is making huge investments on research and on developing proprietary tools to derive greater value for its clients’ budget. “We believe that the future of media business belongs to those who continuously invest on tools and researches that help in using scale to drive competitive edge,” says

Chandradeep Mitra, president of Optimum Media Solutions. OMS has a dedicated knowledge team whose job is to create new knowledge products for its clients and develop tools and processes that help stand out in the clutter. “Our agency has senior level technology and people to champion this cause,” says Mitra. “Being among the Top 5 agencies of the country by volume we have the necessary buying clout in the market,” he adds.

Starcom’s Kiran strongly believes that in future, the single scarcest resource will be consumer attention and companies will survive and grow or perish depending on how well they attract and hold consumer attention. “Our network is committed globally to emerge as the leader in the consumer attention economy. That will be our real competitive advantage. Plus we don’t think our industry can be defined as media buying any longer, since buying is only one of several things we do,” elaborates Kiran. Clearly, it’s survival of the smartest in the Indian media buying industry.

So what are the major challenges that Indian media agencies face today? According to Arumugam, the biggest challenge lies in leveraging the boom in the mobile and social networking space to build a connect between the brand and consumer. “As you know, the use of conventional media is on the decline across the globe,” she points out.

Natrajan agrees when she says, “Accountability on every rupee spent as media gets fragmented will be a challenge for all media buyers.” Comparing the global media buying trends with that of India, Kiran says, “Digital and wireless are now pretty much a standard part of most media strategies across the globe. However in India, clients are still undecided about the use of new media. That’s why, they are stopping only at experimentation. Same goes for brand-content integration, something that’s still in its infancy in India and a lot of people are doing it incorrectly,” he adds.

OMS’ Mitra observes that media buying will be supported by robust research and consumer insight. “The challenge will not be just to buy efficiently, but also effectively. Effective buys are going to be those that deliver consumer engagement, block competition, integrate with holistic communication plan, and create win-win for the client and media owners,” explains Mitra.

Kiran believes that the real big trend on the supply side is that four or five media owner groups will emerge over the next three years as the big powerhouses. “It’s a trend we call supermarketisation of media. Many companies are already diversifying into media forms outside their historical presence. The signs are already there. This is encouraging media owners to offer neutral marketing solutions to our clients,” says Ravi Kiran.

What will be the impact of brand new channels on media buyers in India? And how will media agencies handle additional responsibilities? Increasing clutter in media will lead to more confusion, fragmentation and artificial inflation. This, in turn, is going to affect brand advertising in terms of ROI, observes Arumugam. Incidentally, eight new channels are gearing up to enter the Indian electronic media in the next three months.