B2B will accelerate growth of digital, mobile, social media in India: Experts

Digitas Global Chief Creative Officer Mark Beeching and Chief Marketing Officer Seth Solomons feel that the biggest space for growth of digital, mobile or social media in India is in the B2B space.

Digitas is the digital arm of the world’s fourth largest communications group, The Publicis Groupe.

In an exclusive interview with Preethi Chamikutty of The Economic Times, Beeching and Solomons say, “Businesses today are adopting digital much faster than customers…

“India would have to leap frog some of the bad marketing that the West has done and go directly to the ones that give results to the brand. For example, in the West, financial institutions were attracting customer by giving them low rates of interest, which put them in a soup in the long run.

“So, today Indian companies should help the customer in the decision-making process and give them offers that they would value. A 30-second spot cannot alone connect with the customer. There have to be activities before and after the TVC to connect with the customers. Digital and traditional media are like Siamese twins, you cannot separate the two.”

Online banner ad spend growth slows down as clients switch to search marketing, mobile ads

The growth in online banner ad spend is expected to slow down this financial year as clients have been switching to search marketing and mobile advertising.

In 2008-09, the online banner ad spend grew by 38 per cent to Rs 325 crore. In contrast, the growth rate is expected to drop to 32 per cent (Rs 430 crore) in 2009-10, according to a study by Internet and Mobile Association of India-IMRB.

Search marketing and mobile advertising are expected to reach Rs 325 crore and Rs 50 crore respectively in this financial year, according to afaqs!

Prasanth Mohanachandran, Executive Director, Digital Services, OgilvyOne India, has told afaqs!, “Advertisers have started to experiment, and must have increased their spending on other formats such as search marketing and social media marketing.”

The IAMAI-IMRB study revealed that the growth in banner ad spends in 2009-10 would be driven by sectors such as education (expected to grew by 76 per cent to Rs 34 crore), IT/telecom (41 per cent to Rs 68 crore), FMCG (46 per cent to Rs 47 crore) and auto (40 per cent Rs 39 crore).

The study indicated that the traditional online advertisers - banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) and online publishers - have not increased spends on banner advertisements significantly.

Banner ad spends in the BFSI sector is projected to increase by 17 per cent to Rs 64.5 crore in 2009-10. Online publishers' banner spend is anticipated to reach Rs 107 crore in 2009-10, compared to Rs 84.5 crore in 2008-09.

PR agencies gear up for growth: Survey

Public relations consultancies are gearing up for robust growth in the years to come. Increasing profits and headcounts are expected in 2010.

Top global PR consultancy heads are convinced the industry has turned the corner, reports Gemma O'Reilly in PRWeek. “The latest PRCA PR Leaders' Panel showed confidence returning to the PR market after a troubled 2009,” according to the report. “Some 84 per cent of agency heads expected an increase in staff numbers, while 88 per cent predicted higher turnover and 82 per cent expected more new business.”

Major marcoms groups WPP, Omnicom and Interpublic all recently reported third-quarter year-on-year revenue drops in their PR divisions. But steep share price rises over the year, especially for the PR-centric groups, indicate that investors retain confidence in the industry. Several experts share their views:

Media analyst Jonathan Barrett at Singer Capital Markets: Share price improvements have been driven by the thought that they are not heading into the abyss like last year. Conditions remain uncertain but people are generally confident.

Hill & Knowlton Global Chairman and CEO Paul Taaffe: 2009 had been a challenging year, but we are optimistic about 2010. Recovery will take place at different speeds across different geographies and sectors. Brand and reputation will be increasingly influenced by online consumers, so we expect a continuing shift in marketing spend from traditional advertising into digital and PR.

Edelman President and CEO Richard Edelman: This is the first recession in which PR outperformed advertising. We are now seen as a critical asset in re-establishing trust in business. 2010 will see more global consolidation such as Ketchum Pleon or MS&L and Publicis.

Weber Shandwick Global CEO Harris Diamond: This year was better than expected. Our largest clients helped us because they did not cut back like they have in previous recessions. We are expecting a good year in technology, consumer and healthcare. We expect business to improve in 2010.

RK Swamy Media Group’s invaluable Media Market Guide

The 12th edition of RK Swamy Media Group’s Media Market Guide India 2009 has been released. The Guide is a ‘handy reference book for media and advertising professionals”.

“The Market Guide offers all the relevant information on markets and media in a crisp and easy-to-use format,” according to exchange4media. “Be it market demographics, audience description, information on various media, down to even a very succinct section on penetration and usage of products, the Guide has it all. In addition, important information compiled from various sources is given in the form of snippets for quick reference.”

R K Swamy BBDO Senior Advisor P R P Nair is quoted as saying, “The pocket guide is always useful when you need to access information during meetings with your clients and colleagues. With this thought in mind, we came up with the concept of a pocket handbook over a decade ago. The growing demand for the Guide each year has encouraged us to improve on the content and the value it brings to its users. It encompasses our 15 years of deep understanding and experience of the market and media scenario.”

RK Swamy BBDO makes this Media Market Guide available free of cost to clients and media owners. Professionals interested in this may write from their official mail ID with their names, designation and phone number to: prp.nair@mediadirectionindia.com.

Harjiv Singh on changing face of Indian PR

Harjiv Singh, Co-founder & CEO - International Operations, Gutenberg Communications, spoke to Puneet Bedi Bahri of exchange4media.com. Excerpts:

"In India, it is true that PR is primarily media relations. But, this is changing as Indian companies that aspire to have a global brand are increasingly realising the value of strategic communication counselors in the C-suite and at the board level. The Satyam scandal was a classic example of why communications is now an important imperative for companies even in India and why roles like the Chief Communications Officer need to be seriously looked at by corporate India.

"Companies like Delta Airlines, Yahoo! and SAP have such senior executives who are responsible for managing corporate reputation and aligning such functions as media relations, policy communications, investor relations, internal communications, crisis communications, and branding under a single head.

"In order to change the perception of PR, the industry needs to view communications as an integral part of strategy, rather than a sub-set of marketing. Further, it is crucial to understand the role of both internal and external communications to drive change in organisations, rather than viewing it from the lens of media relations.

"I strongly believe that agencies need to understand the business of our clients much better than is the case currently."

How to make email marketing more effective

Companies should refrain launching desperate email campaigns in order to meet their financial targets.

This is the advice given by Steven Permuy in his write-up on email marketing and high stakes.

Permuy says the ‘spray-and-pray’ (or ‘batch and blast’) approach of mass mailing customers is counter-productive. “The growth of email marketing has led to an increase in the number of communications sent to customers, due to ease of execution and low-cost of implementation. Ironically, omitting to apply the rigour of established direct marketing principles to online marketing, such as testing, measurement and relevancy of content, results in less leads as customers increasingly unsubscribe, report emails as spam or implement their own spam filters, and use multiple email addresses to guard their privacy.”

Permuy says it’s important to gain a better understanding of the customer through periodically planned analysis that identifies patterns that trigger dynamic content.

5 steps to richer customer experience

More and more companies are finding value in making customer service experiences multilingual and multicultural: delivered in the business and regulatory context of local markets and tailored to the language and culture of the customer, writes Anand Subramaniam in Harvard Business.

His five-step approach to making customer service experiences multilingual and multicultural focuses on the following: assess the importance of customer service; assess target markets; assess the scope of customer queries; train agents; and adopt culturally-nuanced policies and practices.

Don’t downsize CSR budgets during turmoil, says Harvard Business School professor

The Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School, V Kasturi "Kash" Rangan says that CSR or Corpororate Social Responsibility budgets should not be downsized during turbulent times.

CSR means activities undertaken by businesses that enhance their value in the community and society and thus benefit their reputation and brand, according to the eminent scholar.

“CSR should be treated as a business discipline and practiced with the same professionalism and rigour as other aspects of a firm's strategy,” he says. “Good examples are the early childhood literacy initiative of PNC, a financial services organization based in Pittsburgh, and the 10,000 Women initiative of Goldman Sachs, which facilitates a business education for underserved women.”

Chinese are superior marketing professionals

Marketing professionals in China would put their counterparts in the US and the UK to shame, according to Mark Ritson, consultant to some of the world's biggest brands, in marketingmagazine.co.uk.

In Shanghai, the evolution of marketing skills in executives trained by Ritson has been very impressive. “Before my eyes they have transformed from anxious graduate students with no practical experience into the best marketers I have ever seen,” says Ritson. “I have been a marketing professor for 12 years and taught all over the world, but it is only in China where I have seen my instruction executed to perfection in the field.”

Narrating an anecdote related to WuMart, the Chinese Wal-Mart, Ritson says that the Chinese should not be understimated. “The 21st century belongs to China, and there is not a lot anyone in the UK or the US can do about it,” says Ritson. “It's time for new leaders. They are on the way.”