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#Predictions2019: Future is all about Reaching the Right Audience, Using the Right Channels, at the Right Time to Drive Relevant Conversations, Prateek Kumar, NeoNiche
After two years of flat performance, advertising industry got back in its game as it recorded 12% increase in the ad spends last year. Digital and Outdoor witnessed a major hike in the ad revenue during the festive season, while TV and print were the laggards.
2018 was a roller-coaster ride as the festive season began with the value of Indian currency deprecating, petrol price soaring up, and with Kerala witnessing its worst calamity during Onam, which is the beginning of festive season. The industry picked up its game in October with Ganpati and then followed Diwali, India’s biggest festival, and the results turned out to be in sync as experts predicted..
With demonetization paving in its way, 2016 turned out to be flat and as our economy was still recovering from demonetization, in 2017, GST brought us back to square one while 2018 began on a slightly low note, the second-half turned out amazing. And with IPL and elections coming up, experts are optimistic for 2019 and expect a higher growth of at least 12% in ad spends during the year.
AdAge India spoke to several advertising experts to understand what does 2019 have in its bag for the most vibrant industry. According to Prateek N Kumar, CEO & Managing Director, NeoNiche, 2018 gave a wonderful opportunity to the startup ecosystem as the initiatives like Digital India and Make in India paved in, and he expects this ecosystem to grow even further this year.
Excerpts:
Q. How has the Indian market been for NeoNiche so far? New avenues/ ventures that you intend on taking in 2019?
The vast and highly competitive consumer market of India has attracted global business giants and MNCs to set up bases here. More and more foreign companies are investing in the Indian capital market to get better profits. The amount of the foreign institutional investments (FIIs) has already exceeded US$ 10 billion and is expected to rise further. We saw an opportunity to not only cater to them but also realized that Start-up Ecosystem was shaping up nicely in India with initiatives from Government supporting the environment with initiatives like “Digital India” ,”Make In India” Initiatives. Our understanding of the same helped us in staying ahead of the curve. Couple of sectors that we would look to consolidate in 2019 will be Education, Fintech and BFSI and will continue to drive innovation and more immersive experience for our customers.
Q. One marketing trend that would make big next year?
For online/digital space, we would be seeing more of AI and Machine learning backed personalized brand to person marketing campaigns while on ground marketing initiatives would take this further by “Crowd shaping” of immersive experiences.
Q. Do you think experiential marketing will be evolved enough to be called the ‘new age of marketing’?
The core element of “Experiential Marketing” is to engage all the senses of the TG in a “Brand Storytelling” that is memorable. Digital medium backed by broadband connectivity and smartphones have created an era where brands becomes effective by being less intrusive and more personalized. Experiential marketing helps in this objective.
Q. With digital and content getting larger by days, how do you think the media landscape will change?
Digital medium provides truly flatter world which helps brands reach large audiences and engage in one to one interactions. Contents which are stimulating, memorable and remarkable drives engagement and creates connection between Brands and their TG. Future is all about reaching the right audience, using the right channels, at the right time and driving conversation which are relevant. Surely the media landscape has changed and will change further.
Q. One area that your agency aims to grow big in?
We believe that the start-up ecosystem will flourish with ease of doing business and start-up friendly government policies; NeoNiche with its cost plus profit model is ready to expand in this area.
Q. How do you think voice and AI will change the media?
Voice technology is changing how consumers and businesses search for things they need. It has become more common to use the technology with smart devices and with the advent of virtual assistants like Alexa and Echo as well as Google and Apple’s voice-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) devices, more marketers are realizing that they need to consider how brands might use this technology in their marketing and advertising efforts.
Q. Will we see India following the global pace with experiential marketing?
India with its talent pool is quickly covering the gap with more technologically advanced countries and this is no different for experiential marketing.
Q. How should brands plan their marketing spends to achieve maximum ROI?
Today’s branding is a function of media fragmentation. More channels and more newspapers reaching out to diverse customer base makes it harder for marketers to reach a truly mass audience. The shift from ATL to BTL spending is in part the result of changing consumer attitudes; more sophisticated consumers demand relevant messaging that engages them in a dialogue, and which allows them to interact with the marketer through their preferred communication channels. At the same time, technology allows marketers to better target consumers, and to better track results and measure ROI of BTL campaigns.
Q. Do you think Indian brands are going wrong somewhere in terms of understanding the customers?
It would be unfair to say Indian Brands are wrong in understanding their audience, in fact, on the contrary, more often than not Indian brands have been successful to understanding the changing media landscape and consumer behaviors and are moving to omni channel and more integrated approach to engage with their audience.