BrandWagon Conclave 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Importance of transparency in data collection for marketers

“Nearly 80% of companies from the biggest global sectors such as financial services and life sciences, will apply or use the metaverse or artificial intelligence (AI) by the next two years,” Chandrashekar Mantha, partner, Deloitte India, said.

The panel discussion came to a collective agreement which comprised that data collection should be respectful and consensual. They explained that users and consumers should be aware of which data is being collected and what purpose that data serves them and the brand.

“Moving from personalisation to hyper-personalisation, marketers move from targeting a persona to targeting a person. This leads us to act and react in real-time at scale,” Sapna Desai, CMO, Manipal Cigna Health Insurance, highlighted.

“A system for personalisation will benefit both the customer, who will have a better consumer experience and the company, which will have a reduced cost for customer service and acquisition. If you give a customer good service, then they are going to come back,” Sachin Vashishhta, chief marketing officer (CMO), Paisabazaar, explained.

“A brand's products need consistent messaging for both the product and the brand. With the changing media, we have instant reactions and consumer feedback. This means that unlike earlier when market research took time to be released, we can't make any rash decisions on the brand marketing,” Megha Agarwal, head, brand and marketing, WeWork India, commented.

“For traditional media, we would get data after a show and we would analyse it; it would never be a kneejerk reaction. Now, what has changed with the coming of digital is the question of when to react. This can make or break a show or campaign. As a marketplace, this is the main change which has occurred,” Azmat Jagmag, marketing head – linear and OTT, Warner Bros. Discovery South Asia, said.

Hindi viewership from 2018 to 2022 has declined by eight percent. Meanwhile, regional (non-Hindi) channels have grown by 14% in the same period, Bikash Kundu, senior vice president (SVP) and head, revenue, regional entertainment, Viacom 18, said. “On the other hand, the overall ad revenue pie for Hindi is bigger than all the regional players combined. This can be attributed to a lack of organisation in the regional space,” he explained.

Trends have been changing from communication that occurred face-to-face, to digital communication, Dhruv Shah, head, brands and partnership, Orangutan gaming, stated. “The best kind of communication we have found for the younger audience is communication which tickles their brains. Meme-marketing is quite prominent in the gaming industry through Instagram, YouTube, or even WhatsApp,” he added.

For Medha Tawde, CMO and head digital transformation, Praxis Home Retail, customer experience is very strategic. “It is a long-term prospect and has to be consistently delivered to customers. Consumer expectations are growing faster than what brands keep up with,” she added.

“Iconic brands are special because they make you feel good. This has to translate across the entire value structure. You have to ensure that you treat every customer specially and have to do this consistently” Deepa Krishnan. director – marketing, category, loyalty and digital, Tata Starbucks, commented.

“AI is in a trasitional phase and it is evolving. The technology is becoming more like a play-thing rather than a business tool. Products like ChatGPT have to make business sense to be used,” Supratik Sengupta, head, marketing – consumer health, Lupin, stated.

“Value creation comes from two things, pricing and the benefits given. When brands take care of customers without thinking of profits the entire time, then the value for that brand gets accentuated,” Anita Nayyar, COO-media, branding and communications, Patanjali Ayurved, said.

“For me, first-party data has three uses. Firstly, it is to build insights and claims for the brand. Then it helps to develop the product during the product development stage. Lastly, it is to aid marketing, remarketing and personalisation through digital marketing,” Ritu Mittal, head, marketing and digital, Bayer, observed.

“While data will help unlock new insights, the process of how it should be collected and stored needs to be structured and organised. Firms are hiring data scientists to mine data but a lot of their time is spent in gathering data rather than unlocking insights,” Vijay Pampana, director, head, marketing, P&G Health, stated.

Digital advertising will be a trillion-dollar business in 2027. It is growing at a rate of 17% and between 14-25% is expected to be from programmatic, Ashish Bhasin, chairman and co-founder, RD&X Network, Rebid, said. “India will see 250-300 million new users from tier 3 and 4 towns and rural areas,” he added.

For Amit Wadhwa, CEO, Dentsu Creative India, the purpose and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are often intermingled for the brand. “Doing good is the responsibility of the brand and not its purpose. It is important to differentiate having a purpose from doing good, which became accentuated during the pandemic,” he added.

“Digital transformation should start with upgrading the IT segment. This includes having up-to-date platforms with relevant tools for customer engagement. Then, you should use digital for optimising operation, and lastly, to find innovative marketing and providing an omnichannel platform,” Amit Bhandare – head – marketing and publics relations, Yes Securities, stated.

Most mobile users spend time on conversation apps, Shankar Iyer, customer services director – India, Infobip, said. “Messaging has touched upon all stages of customer engagement and you are able to create personalisation with customers directly,” he added.

According to Karan Goyal, CEO, Kreative Digitals, every brand should undertake WhatsApp retargeting to abandon cart prospects as the conversion rates would jump up.

“People have moved from first discovering a product or brand and then buying it, to discovering them on Amazon based on reviews,” Alisha Gupta, vice president, digital marketing, SuperBottoms, highlighted.

“For any brand that moves into direct-to-customer (D2C), you have to create and build your brand in the minds of consumers. Just performance marketing cannot work,” Tanushree Jain, head, digital and marketing automation, Polycab India, stated.

When you create a new brand, it is important to have some change and movement in the market consumer mix. It is important to have clarity of purpose, make changes in the lives of consumers, have a setting, keep secrets and mysteries, and do transformations, Sanjay Singhal, chief operating officer – dairy and beverage business, ITC, said.

Sanjay Sindhwani, CEO, Indian Express Digital, kicks off the BrandWagon Conclave. “While performance is important, you need to invest in the brands,” he said.