There is understandable interest and activity in digital marketing and the attention is on the mobile. Marketing conferences are almost exclusively focussed around this medium. But while the mobile is being extensively discussed, there are a few things that I see growing in acceptance in 2016 that aren’t being as talked about as much as they should be.
Mobile web
Despite the benefits of apps, and the widespread adoption by smartphone users, the number and the frequency of apps remain far more limited than the content being sourced. Myntra’s decision to adopt an app-only world was seen as a sign of things to come, or at least worth a debate. It has now seen it fit to re-engage on the web.
Flipboard now has a mobile web avatar — which while not as capable as the app — creates an easier accessing browsing experience that is likely to be more universal and more importantly, needed. A web experience that is almost app-like is the only practical way. There are never going to be 2,000 apps for sourcing content from 2,000 sources.
Mobile as a consumer journey companion
Brands have begun using the mobile as a tool for communication and engagement through apps, interactivity and targeting. But rather than looking at one stage and leveraging the mobile for that stage, there is an opportunity to make it a partner in the consumer journey, especially for the categories where there are multiple stages in the purchase and installation/usage cycle. Godrej, for instance, has established a Free-G platform to help consumers navigate such a journey in exploring and investigating a product, all the way to ordering it.
A call back number is as permanent an asset as a url that provides both journey navigation as well as a return path. Consumers calling that number are given a menu of options through which they can be directed to call centres for more information.
They can also be directed to nearest stores, by giving pin codes to experience the product, to e-commerce sites and app download sites to transact. Their menu selections are able to provide valuable insights on creatives, media choices as well as opportunities on cross-sell, along with distribution based on demand patterns.
The growing need for immersive experiences
The need of the hour is technology that increases the reach of immersive experiences. 3D was a toy in the previous decade with experimental content. But now that the movie industry is regularly churning out content in 3D, the TV industry has fully embraced 3D viewing, with the result that cameras and other viewing devices are within reach. No need to pay $300-400 for an Occulus Rift.
At less than $10 you can get Cardboard viewers to wrap around large screen smartphones to get an immersive experience. No wonder services like youvisit.com that offer virtual tours, YouTube 360, or even Google’s curation of historical sites in virtual reality, in collaboration with the Archaeological Society of India, are now growing
in demand.
Brands that have a lighthouse point of view
The marketing world has built up its expertise in interrupting content with advertising messages — whether it is through ad pages in a magazine, or spots on radio or television. This can also include a strategy of trying to be intrusive by becoming part of the content and forcing the narrative to segue to the brand message in the middle of that content.
In the long term, I don’t believe the basic structure will change. Audiences will consume informative or interesting content from content houses. Brands will subsidise this content creation by tapping on these self-same audiences to put forth their messages.
Currently, social media platforms are on the interrupt content model with sponsored messages interrupting social content. But brands who are able to transcend this limitation will be the ones with a view that resonates.
Cinthol’s recent twist on its brand idea of ‘Alive is awesome’ is one such example. The ‘Alive is offline’ campaign touches a chord beyond India, getting responses from almost two hundred countries through unpaid digital sharing and reach leading to YouTube listing it among its top five videos this year.
Pattern recognition skills and tools
Big data isn’t entirely new. Large scale databases have existed for some time. And the marketing world has had to engage with the use of technology to manage large data volume for years. Media plan decisions that have to
work through multi-channel, multi-programme choices have had to do just that. But what is increasingly becoming a need is to spot patterns and mix data from multiple sources. The world is going to increasingly generate more data and the answer will not be in more analytics agencies. Marketers will need to be able to map, visualise and explore data patterns more intuitively much like Hans Rosling did in his TED Talk in 2006 that clocked over 10 million views.
This is a huge need and someone will need to step in and fulfil it. Till then marketers will have to wrestle with agencies. They also need to query writing and the time gaps between asking questions and seeing the answers. The world of digital marketing promises to continue amazing us with what is possible and will reward those who are adventurous and embrace those possibilities.
By Shireesh Joshi, Head, strategic marketing, Godrej Group of Companies