Anita Nayyar, CEO India & South Asia, Havas Media Group

Ours is the digital age so really it’s  about ‘marketing’; ‘digitalmarketing’ being a passé phrase. Digital is the cornerstone of marketing in a rapidly evolving hyper social landscape where new technologies (programmatic, AI, VR, etc.), innovative platforms (Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope, etc.) and constantly expanding data mines; possessing the capacity to disrupt the industry overnight. To add to this people with connected devices and wearable’s, are all getting more intelligent by the day and it’s a huge power grid.

India and its government’s digital first attitude, policy and capacity makes it a welcome country, drawn to the center of world economics.
 

In this challenging  exciting climate, the most effective marketer will be the one most agile to learn, unlearn, constantly adapt and apply the new with the old. Brands need to navigate meaningfully across mindset, people, strategy, idea and implementation. The Salient Seven Powers  for Marketing Effectiveness:

1. Power of Visualization
‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’ This English idiom from the early 20th century holds so true today. Emoji’s have become a new language and GIFs have been splashed across by users and brands to convey a message.
 

"In this challenging-exciting climate, the most effective marketer will be the one most agile to learn, unlearn, constantly adapt and apply the new with the old"
 

Dominos introduced pizza orders with an emoji by linking a user’s account to a created dominos account with a preferred order. Tweeting Dominos with a pizza emoji would yield doorstep delivery. McDonald’s  used emoji artwork of music notes, hearts, thumbs up, etc., for happy meals, burgers and deserts. KFC introduced for its Wednesday special offers a series of 10-second TVCs using GIFs for television. Every one will remember the ‘white or gold dress’ picture debate that went viral.


The simplistic rendition of a picture evokes an instant psychological connect and emotion - positive or negative. Marketers aim to touch our ‘happy’ buttons drawing the viewer into the message eliciting him to like, share and comment.
 

VIDEO simplifies and connects further - we’ve all experienced this in a ‘How to do Stuff’ video over an instruction manual. At last count in April 2016 Facebook sited 8 billion video views per day for 1.65 billion active users. At the recently declared 2 billion users, video views would have substantially grown.  The visual elements allow for deeper attachment and recognition of the message, drawing the audience into it.
 

2. Power of Personalization
In a selfie world where self, rules, personalization is a differentiator. However this is easier said than done with billions on the internet. Yet consumer centric smart content boosts conversions and conversations. Hyper personalization, where each user gets unique content and experience is easier said than done. At a macro level, unravelling insights from available customer data and segmenting them yields distinctive experiences. Addressing an individual by name, the most basic personalization, in an email marketing campaign, increases the open rate.
 

3. Power of Programmatic and Native Ads
Programmatic is the key to unlocking the digital maze to connect with the right person, at the right time, in the right place and the right way.  At Havas Media we have an extremely effective programmatic platform and a transparent one.
 

When Native ads are placed within organic content they appear non-intrusive and the same when delivered programmatically multiplies the effectiveness of both.
 

4. Power of Right Data Conversions
Data is everywhere and ‘big data’ is the buzzword. We are literally generating data at the speed of thought so using ‘right data’ totally changes the game.
 

As examples we’ve seen two presidential elections in the US, Obama and Trump as well as closer home with Modi where data can shift the balance with its power to influence and communicate. Specific communication to fringe audiences, when summed up, can totally change the outcome.
 

5. Power of Content
Content is sticky glue for the right audience. Our Meaningful brand study, that we have been doing for the past 8 years has clearly reflected the importance of content for both brands and consumers. However, it is extremely important for brands to provide content that is relevant to the consumers. It is observed that almost 40% of the content produced by brands is irrelevant and hence has no impact on the consumers.
 

Like my Addiction by BETC Paris for Addict Aide won at Cannes 2017 in PR, Promo & Activation, Cyber, Direct and Mobile. Behind it, well-thought, engaging content was created to style a fictional #Louise Delage who became an Instagram star with a huge fan following, all drawn to her lifestyle and posts. Towards the end, in a twist, it was revealed she was fictional with a message ‘it’s easy to miss the addiction of someone close’ - hindsight showed she always had a drink on hand!
 

6. Power of Influencers
People trust who they are familiar with or are fan followers of. We saw how Sachin Tendulkar’s controversial #NoExcuse stweet led people to reveal their friends phone numbers expecting him to call giving them a pep talk  on fitness. Netflix used the influencer power of comedian Tanmay Bhat to successfully market its crime drama series ‘Narcos’ as well as other influencers for its brand promotion, gaining a firm foot hold in the Indian market and charging for services.
 

7. Power of New Tech
Marketers need to be open to the latest tech and creatively apply it to deliver unique brand experiences. For example - Makeup Genius, the virtual make-up application, from L’Oreal allowed the trial of their 4500 products with a smartphone/tablet - by using facial recognition and augmented reality.  Likewise, HP Lubricants won Silver in Innovation for ‘Roads that Honk’ -  a SmartPole with oncoming vehicle alert mechanism at a hairpin bend on Jammu - Srinagar highway helps save lives, makingroads safer.
 

Truly, for marketing to be effective, it is not about data or creativity; but both. It is the c reative use of right data campaign, cognitive and beyond.