Be sure of running out of ink and paper, if you start preparing a list of the total number of workshops, seminars and conferences being conducted on digital across India. But here, knowledge sharing does not necessarily translate into more marketers understanding the worth of the medium and how ?it? can work wonders when used to tell a brand story. ?Today?s digital conversations are on the right way to go about digital and the right budget for doing so. In the current environment, agencies play a critical role as the core advisors of advertiser and we believe in working closely with the two,? says Nitin Mathur, senior director, marketing at Yahoo! India.
The internet company runs intensive workshops called Fresh Fridays for agencies and advertisers. The main objective during these interactions is to throw some ideas at the attendees on how the medium can be used to their advantage. All this is done with the help of international case studies covering examples from across sectors, presentations of crucial aspects like media planning and consumer profiling. The workshops are conducted by the sales and marketing team of Yahoo!
Mathur explains how currently there are two set of marketers who are divided by their mindset about digital, ?One set knows the importance on digital but is hesitant to make it a part of mainstream media planning. The second is the new breed of marketers who are using it aggressively. While categories like telecom and automobile have started relying on the medium, consumer durables and FMCG are slow movers. In the past one year, advertisers in e-commerce, education and retail have become active too.?
Yahoo is also leaving no stone unturned in terms of offering a variety of ad formats. Recently, the company introduced 10 new ad formats. Its Yahoo mail?s login page ad has done well with brands like Tata (Aria), Renault, Maruti Suzuki (Kizashi) and BlackBerry having advertised on it. Close to 55 lakh people come on Yahoo mail page every day. On content front, the company has created a special destination called Movies.yahoo.in/ movieplex for this purpose, where it will showcase its collection of Bollywood movies. There are plans to add English and regional language titles as well. ?Video content has been gaining immense popularity. We see tremendous growth in this segment,? adds Mathur.
Recently, the company also organised the second annual Yahoo! Big Idea Chair which honours individuals and agencies behind some of the best creative work in digital advertising. This year, the Yahoo! Big Idea Chair Award was awarded to Ogilvy Worldwide for its Fox Crime campaign – Photography Case. Overall, there were 19 winners across nine different categories. For this year, Yahoo! received 284 entries. The awards saw the participation of 100 brands and 57 agencies across the country. The entries were judged on creativity, interactivity and in the context of brand objectives. The jury members included Sameer Suneja, managing director, Perfetti Van Melle; Bishwajeet Samal, head, marketing communication, Volkswagen India; Agnello Dias, chairperson and co-founder, Taproot India; Karthi Marshan, head, marketing, Kotak Mahindra Group; Graham Kelly, executive creative director, OgilvyOne Worldwide; Karl Gomes, co-founder, Agency Digi; Arun Tadanki, managing director, Yahoo! India, and Mathur of Yahoo.