The pandemic has brought about notable shifts across industries, and the case has been no different for marketing. Today, digital marketing has become a crucial aspect in order to acquire new customers and retain existing ones. In our weekly BrandWagon Ad Talk series, industry experts highlight what has changed over the past two years and more importantly, are these changes here to stay. Arun Pattabhiraman, CMO, Sprinklr, talks to BrandWagon Online about the dos and don’ts of digital marketing, best marketing campaigns, and more.
What is the difference between launching a brand in today’s digital era versus earlier?
Traditionally, brands with big budgets could create beautiful campaigns that would easily outshine brands with lesser budgets. While this didn’t always guarantee success, it was easier for brands with large budgets to win in the marketplace. With the advent of generative AI, brands can build beautiful campaigns fast and at a lower cost. This is a great leveler. I believe that the brands that can hire original thinker marketers who can leverage generative AI effectively will be able to launch and build brands with great efficiency. And with elastic distribution costs on digital channels, it is also easier for brands to identify and scale profitable campaigns.
What are the recent best marketing or advertising campaigns you have seen and why?
I love the social campaigns run by Ferrara candy, especially their ability to turn identified social trends into strategic campaign opportunities. For instance, after spotting a video of an athletic trainer from Rice University giving football players gummy worms during a game, the team quickly identified them as Trolli and put a call to action out for the fan base to find the ‘gummy worm guy.’ He was found immediately! By the next Saturday, Rice’s next football game, the Ferrara team outfitted the athletic trainer with a custom worm bag and hat, gave out 2,000 packs of Trolli to the student section, had a live segment on ESPN. It was interesting to see this get covered by both digital and print media.
Which brand in the last year has made the best use of digital and how?
I love how Microsoft is using digital marketing to promote their copilot offerings. I particularly love their ‘watch me’ campaign. And how they are using consistent messaging in advertising across all digital channels, including in their Superbowl advertisement. They even sent out invites created by Microsoft copilot for their AI event which showcased the strength of their AI offering.
In a post-Covid world, what are the dos and don’ts of digital marketing?
In the post-Covid era, we are starting to see significantly lower traction of digital events. A part of it is also due to the reliance of marketers on digital events during the Covid era. In the post-covid era, I recommend marketers to approach digital events with caution. Instead of 100s of digital events, we need to increase the quality of production to get results. For example, at Sprinklr, we saw that Netflix-style documentaries targeted at our ICP buyers outperformed traditional webinars by a significant margin both in terms of business impact, and audience engagement.
One recent bad case of advertising you have seen, and why?
Almost all marketing teams spend considerable time building advertising campaigns. It’s a calculated guess which advertisements will work. Sometimes, you get it right, and sometimes, you don’t. It’s just what makes marketing fun. But as marketers, we always need to maintain dignity and be conscientious. A case in point is a recent campaign by a premium personal care and grooming solutions brand that used a student’s pictures to promote their products. The campaign was widely & rightfully debated on social media- a controversy that could have entirely been avoided.