Rajat Mehta is the Country Head- Brand & Retail Marketing, YES BANK. He has extensive experience across Marketin, Branding and Communication. He has been a part of the core teams with hands-on experience in building and managing the brand of two start-up financial brands- YES BANK and FirstRand Bank. His responsibilities include strategy & positioning, advertising, product marketing, digital & social media marketing, visual merchandising, activation, research and communications.

Rajat Mehta, joined YES BANK during 2004 in Marketing and Communication and moved on to become the Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Communication before moving on to FirstRand Bank Ltd. India as Head Marketing and Communication/Product Development. He came back to YES BANK in December 2012.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Rajat talks about the importance of the digital medium in YES BANK’s brand building plan and mobile as a medium of brand communication. 

How does the digital medium - both internet and mobile figure in YES Bank’s plans to reach out to consumers? 

Since inception, YES BANK has been built on the backbone of superior technology and customer centricity. We have constantly invested in various new age technologies and mediums to deliver a superior service experience to our stakeholders.

In parallel, smart phone influx and improved connectivity is a game changer for brand building in the digital space and this medium has emerged as the key area of focus for even mature industries like banking & financial services.

YES BANK has used the digital medium- both internet & mobile for extensive -

• - Brand Building
• - Information Sharing
• - Lead Generation
• - Customer Feedback/Grievances

Our website not only serves as an informational tool for interacting with all our key stakeholders like customers, prospects, investors, shareholders etc but also serves as an important lead generation tool with a 50 per cent y-o-y increase in our lead count.

In-order to reach out to people, support favorable brand building and make online medium an important acquisition tool for all key bank products and services, we have aggressively used search engine marketing, display advertising, affiliate advertising, emailers, mobile search, mobile display advertising for generating leads for both Indian & overseas market.

We also have our own mobile app compatible with Android, Blackberry and iPhone which can be used for banking transactions by our existing customers while they are ‘on the move’. This helps increase usage of alternate channels.

Search engine optimization (SEO) has helped us gain a monumental increase in our website traffic, unique visitors, page views etc. We are currently amongst the top 5 rankings with respect to search engine optimization for most of our key product proposition like savings a/c, NRI accounts, fixed deposit etc.

Social media too has been used as an innovative tool to engage with our stakeholders- customers and prospects.

How do you see your brand leveraging display advertisements on internet? 

Display advertising definitely helps in creating greater brand awareness and brand recall. Contextual targeting, re-marketing etc have helped further segmentation and eventually helped in generating quality leads. However, search (search engine optimization and search engine marketing) dominates the market when it comes to leads.

YES Bank has engaged users on social media with Facebook and Twitter presence. What scope do you see in the social media space? 

YES BANK has used social media as an innovative and interactive communication tool to engage with our key stakeholders - existing as well as potential.

For YES BANK, social media serves multiple objectives of:

• - Increasing brand awareness & credibility: Promote our superior 7 per cent interest rate on saving accounts and other products/offering and highlight institutional achievements & key milestones of YES BANK

• - Generating traffic to the website and thereby get leads for various products

The bank uses social media to provide various touch points to customers to engage with the brand at their convenience. We also provide our customers with a rich offering of value-added content, key product information, contests and also utilize this platform to increase financial literacy.

Social media has also played a significant role in managing our online reputation. This involves monitoring and generating online feedback and reviews, responding to customer complaints, resolving queries, taking corrective action on incorrect information and using online feedback to guide improvements in product development for enhancing customer experience.  In fact, Social Samosa, one of India’s leading authorities on social media, has rated YES BANK as No. 1, in terms of least time taken to reply to queries. This instant platform is extremely beneficial as the bank takes less than 15 minutes to reply to more than 50 per cent of the queries.

The insights that we have gathered from consumers about our products and services have helped us in improving customer satisfaction. We have also increased positive perceptions of the brand by creating opportunities to listen to and engage with customers.

Various social media platforms not only allow us to connect with customers but also help customers to interact amongst themselves, thereby creating opportunities for an engaged community. Our presence on social media has helped improve brand saliency and affinity amongst the younger age group. This can be validated by the fact that 45 per cent of our audience base on Facebook is between the age group of 25 to 35 years.

In the context of BFSI, both online and offline transactions take place. But there is a perception that people research and compare products online and buy them offline. What do you think of this perception? Is it likely to change anytime soon? 

We look at online to be a major contributor to sale and not just information sharing. In case of our NRI business, remittance business etc online is a major source of revenue. Also we launched end-to end account opening application which has helped customers to open account from the comfort of your home. This has helped to reach small cities where we don’t have branches.

We believe that both offline & online go hand in hand and the perception has already started changing.

What are YES Bank’s current digital spends? How do you see them move in terms of growth and focus in near future?

We have increased our spends on the digital medium by as much as 100 per cent compared to last year. It is evident that with more and more consumers spending time online, marketers will have to include digital in their marketing mix.

Digital is an extremely critical component of our marketing mix and has seen a multifold increase in outlays. We already see it getting 15-20 per cent of our overall spends.

How do you see your marketing objectives aligning with what the online medium offers two years down the line?

We have always believed that all content on digital has to be specially created or adapted and should not be a copy of the conventional medium. We are already designing several campaigns specifically for the digital medium. We have used digital to leverage our highly unique YES COMMUNITY program that we conduct in all our branches. In one such initiative, we have used the digital medium for both outreach as well as for getting people to sign against food wastage.

Which according to you have been some of the most exciting online campaigns that the company has initiated for its brand so far?

Some of the exciting online campaigns that have seen strong positive response include-

Campaign for YES Remit – online remittance platform to India

Results: In a short span of one year of launch

• - The registration count increased by 85 per cent
• - The transaction count as well as transaction value increased by 100 per cent
• - 95 per cent increase in lead count
• - Cost per lead reduced by 20 per cent
• - Click to Lead ratio saw an increase of 107 per cent

 Campaign for YES Insta – instant account opening from the comfort of home

Results: 100 per cent increase in leads with 30 per cent reduction in cost per lead in span of one year

The ‘Magic of 7’ campaign & IPL campaign on the social media were a natural extension for creating greater awareness of our 7 per cent offering on savings account. These resulted in not just making YES BANK the fastest growing bank on Facebook but also the Most followed bank on twitter.

Tell us about the uptake of YES Bank’s mobile app.

The app was launched in Aug’12 for existing customers to transact while they are on the move. They no longer need to visit branches for their banking transaction. Our Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) platform has indeed taken mobile transactions to the next level with transactions happening even on a bank and public holidays.

People are speaking about mobile being a great medium for brand communication, but still the spend on the medium is minimal. What is your take on this?

Mobile is definitely the future for all marketers, who shall not be able to ignore mobile marketing be it search or display. Even apps will act as a major source of lead generation in future. Mobile will help location based segmentation and help in targeted marketing.

This trend on greater focus on mobile has arrived internationally in a big way and we will soon see its impact in India.

What answers do you seek from your digital advertising agencies and digital media partners while promoting your brand on internet? 

In addition to seeking help from our partners in achieving our goals both at brand as well as product level, we look for valuable insights in terms of which markets are performing better internationally for our international business. We also expect tracking of general industry trends and competition mapping, besides exploring new avenues of online marketing.

Rahul Jayawant is the CEO and founder of Eureka Mobile Advertising. Rahul founded Eureka with the vision of revolutionizing mobile advertising by monetizing the idle screen of the mobile phone across the digital supply chain starting with the subscriber and creating a compelling engagement platform for brands.

Rahul is an IIT alumnus and obtained his Bachelor’s degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi. He also has a Marketing Management degree from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management. Rahul is an accomplished professional with over 25 years of experience in creating new businesses for global technology and consulting conglomerates.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Rahul talks about the future of mobile advertising and the significance of the Indian market for Eureka.

Despite being hailed as the future of advertising, a very less amount of ad spends is being utilized by companies on mobile platform. What is your opinion on the same?

The world of technology is grappling with three major challenges/opportunities. These are Big Data, Social Analytics and Mobile Advertising.  Amongst these, Mobile Advertising is the most exciting puzzle that is waiting to be cracked by both, marketers and technologists across the globe. As per most independent analyst reports the global advertising markets are expected to grow from $3.3 billion in 2011 to over $25billion by 2016. Similarly, according to a Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) report, the mobile ad spend figure in India is currently around Rs. 300 crores. Clearly the potential for mobile as an advertising channel is growing in geometrical proportions.

Having said this, what becomes important is how we make use of such opportunities and trends. Marketers need to see tangible ROI from the mobile advertising channels. Some of the key tenets of mobile technology including one-to-one interactions with the target audience, precision targeting, location based services coupled with analytics led insights need to be leveraged to convince advertisers to spend more of their budgets into mobile from traditional channels.

Ad spends are known to follow platforms that enjoy a large following. For example, if there is a large uptake of televisions, then the ad spends on television as a channel in a particular geo grows. Using this logic, given the large penetration of smart phones in India, the percentage of ad spends on the mobile channel is bound to grow.

How big is India, as a market, for your company? What business opportunity do you see here?

As per leading analysts the mobile advertising market in India is expected to reach about $100 million, growing 20 fold in 5 years. Thus, India for us as a market is important. The key reason for us to do the pilot in India t was the omnipresence of mobiles, a young population and the advent of affordable smart phones. This makes India an exciting market for any marketer and made sense for us.

With over 50 per cent of internet access being attributed to mobiles and this will get a further boost with the advent of 3G and 4G services and give a huge impetus to e-commerce and gaming on the mobile. We feel our unique offering that includes precision targeting and a robust analytics engine, provides a tremendous opportunity for marketers to reach their TG through the Eureka Advertising Platform.

What innovations should come from firms like Eureka so that brands look at the mobile medium more seriously?

Given the immense growth of the mobile industry and innovations, brands cannot afford to ignore the mobile advertising channel. World over mobile advertising is gaining momentum and marketers are increasingly looking at mobile as a medium to communicate effectively with their audiences. The following innovations will largely contribute to step up mobile advertising:

• - Precision targeting
• - Location based services
• - Timed ads
• - Behavioural Analytics

How has been the uptake of Eureka’s mobile phone utility tool that monetizes the idle screen to deliver relevant content to the target subscribers?

The uptake for our app has been beyond our wildest expectations. Since its launch, we have had 1,10,000 downloads with a download rate of 1500-2000 subscribers per day. It is listed as one of the top 5 apps in the Lifestyle section. The customer engagement ratio has been over 41 per cent.

The users opt in for the app as it is easy to download, simple to use and very light on data. They don’t have to open the app separately to view the content which includes utility displays, quirky content, relevant ads and cool deals on the idle screen.  Eureka is the first company in the world to gratify subscribers for viewing ads. With the modest success we have had so far we are very excited with the possibilities and are currently on track to achieve our goals.

How many brands are using this service in India?

Currently six brands are using this service in India and we are expecting some more significant brands to partner with us.

How does this service provide better ROI to brands than pop-up or in-app advertising?

Eureka Mobile Advertising leverages the idle screen of the mobile phone to send precise marketing messages to opt-in target audiences using proprietary technology and analytics engine. Most importantly for the advertiser our technology ensures the advertiser only pays for the advertisements that are seen by the target audience. This ensures accountability, transparency and high ROI. Such a model ascertains brands receiving sustained attention and a better ROI compared to in-app or pop-up advertising.

Have you tied-up with any Indian advertising firms to make this service popular?

Currently, we are having discussions with some of the top advertising agencies in India and their global networks.

What kind of content do you provide in the solution- is it local and targeted?

Presently, Eureka has the ability to send relevant ads, quirky content and cool deals to the subscribers targeted regionally. Going forward, we plan to tie the content to the user’s demographic and location preferences. As the mobile phone becomes more and more ubiquitous and all-encompassing, it is expected to change the way we play, work and interact with our surroundings. With wearable devices and accessories that are now picking up, the potential this creates is immense. We believe that the right content, delivered at the right time will be the key differentiator. We hope to leverage our technical edge to engage with brands and consumers by delivering the marketing messages appropriately. These messages will be local, precise and timed.

Presently, you are present on the Android platform. When do you plan to launch across platforms?

Android is by far the most popular operating system (OS) in smart phones. As per some estimates there are around 80 million smart phones in India.  91 per cent of these use Android OS. Thus as a start-up, it was a no brainer for us to launch on Android phones. However, our road map does include iOS, Symbian and Windows. The launch timing will of course be dictated by the uptake of these OS vis-à-vis Android phones.

You are seed funded by Indian HNIs. Do you plan to raise funds in future?

Yes. We are in the process of garnering more funds and discussions are on for the same.

Any expansion plans on the cards?

Yes, most definitely. As far as India is concerned, end of October we have launched a major update of the App. We have just launched our Referral Program for subscribers and hope to launch the Loyalty Program towards the end of the year. It will provide a larger canvas of options for our subscribers to monetize beyond talk time and data packs. Internationally, we are launching Eureka in UK and APAC in the next quarter.

What are your broad targets for 2014?

Our core target for 2014 is to reach a subscriber base of half a million users. Everything else will follow this goal.

Nikhil Rungta is the Chief Business Officer of e-retail site Yebhi.com. He has over 18 years of experience in sales and marketing, across verticals like FMCG, Consumer Durables, Finance, IT and Travel Services.

Prior to joining Yebhi.com, Nikhil was the Country Marketing Head for Google India and was responsible for managing the Google brands including Youtube, Android, Chrome and Google Plus. Nikhil’s Internet journey started with Yatra.com as their Head of Marketing. There he was part of the Founding Leadership Team and was instrumental in providing strategic vision and building Yatra.com as one of the most popular e-commerce start ups and travel services brand in the country.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Nikhil talks about Yebhi’s marketing objectives and the importance of social media for brand promotion.

Yebhi has been using digital for both building the brand and acquiring consumers. How does the digital medium - both internet and mobile figure in Yebhi’s plans to reach out to consumers?

That is one of the key media. In fact in the last quarter or so we have only been focusing on digital media, we have not been doing any other kind of offline activities

In your category, performance based advertisement works the best. With new engagement forms such as videos coming up on internet, what are your thoughts on visual brand building exercises on internet in India?

Definitely. Internet is in an evolution state in the country. Almost every day there is something new that is coming up. We at Yebhi believe in trying out everything and then on the basis of numbers and the response that we see, we tend to scale it up. So we have divided our digital marketing strategy into three clear parts. One is for acquisition of new users, the other is for retention and nurturing existing user base and the third is customer service.

These are the key objectives that we have set out and on this basis we use different media. So social media, which includes Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest has a big contribution towards acquisition of new users plus cutomer service. We use things like emailers and SMS for targeting the existing user base or customer retention. That's largely what we do.

Within social media, if I look at it from customer acquisition perspective, Facebook works the best for us. The kind of ROI's we get from Facebook are the best. Twitter is a tool which helps us spread across any communication plus it is also a customer service tool.

Do you feel that online companies should build their brand on traditional media and acquire customers online?

We use the offline media very strategically at different points in time like to acquire new users, create awareness about the brand or create awareness about some services that you have launched. As of now we are focusing on online media.

One more thing that has happened in the last one to two years in the online media is that today there are over 150 million users of the internet, which means that Internet is now a mainstream medium, it is not a peripheral medium. We are an online company, so it helps us if we reach out to the people who are online.

Our belief is that out of the 150 million people online, less than 10 million people transact online, so the headroom there itself is very high in getting those people to transact with us.

How important do you think is the social media for promoting your brand in India?

Very, very important. Facebook today has over 80 million users, on a monthly basis. So especially for brands like ours which are into fashion and lifestyle, Facebook works really well. Our audiences are in the age group of 18 to 35 years and most of these are today using social media, so it is a great medium to reach out to them. Secondly, Facebook allows you to hypertarget, say if I want to reach out to students within the age group of 18 to 22 years, with specific interests in movies or books or sports, we are actually able to do that very efficiently, which only Facebook allows us to do. This is what helps us get better ROI's.

With so many e-commerce sites vying for consumers’ attention on social media, how do you make sure that Yebhi stands out?

In any other media, you will have competition and other players competing for that space, so you tend to make your offers the best offers and try and make you products available and see the response. So that is what we also try because we are also competing for the same space and the same users.

Tell us about Yebhi’s most successful campaign so far on digital media.

We had done a Facebook a few months back and even the Facebook team told us that it was one of the most successful Facebook campaigns ever in the e-commerce category in India. This campaign promoted a range of shoes and the kind of creatives we had led to amazing numbers of visits to our site, this was the highest that any other category had seen. In fact the proof of that it did extremely well was that other competitors copied it.

Internet is said to be a measurable medium. What is your take on this? Have we overdone the measurement quotient and made this medium hard to understand for the brand marketers?

Not at all, today even the offline media is seeing granular measurement. I think it is good to have measurement because finally you are spending money. It is good to understand where each Dollar and each Rupee of yours are being spent. It is a good thing as because of online media people are learning how to measure lot of other media as well, they are applying similar metrics to other media today. Online media has done a good thing, it has made marketing a lot more scientific than it used to be.

Today you know what works and what doesn’t work and whatever works, you are able to scale it up.

How do you see your marketing objectives aligning with what the online medium offers from two years down the line?

As mentioned before the marketing objectives are customer acquisition; retention and nurturing the existing user base; and customer service. So these objectives are no something that will keep on changing every day, so they will remain and maybe there will be other media which will get added on to each of these which will help us fulfill these objectives, I think that’s what might change.

Nikhil Rungta is the Chief Business Officer of e-retail site Yebhi.com. He has over 18 years of experience in sales and marketing, across verticals like FMCG, Consumer Durables, Finance, IT and Travel Services.

Prior to joining Yebhi.com, Nikhil was the Country Marketing Head for Google India and was responsible for managing the Google brands including Youtube, Android, Chrome and Google Plus. Nikhil’s Internet journey started with Yatra.com as their Head of Marketing. There he was part of the Founding Leadership Team and was instrumental in providing strategic vision and building Yatra.com as one of the most popular e-commerce start ups and travel services brand in the country.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Nikhil talks about Yebhi’s marketing objectives and the importance of social media for brand promotion.

Yebhi has been using digital for both building the brand and acquiring consumers. How does the digital medium - both internet and mobile figure in Yebhi’s plans to reach out to consumers?

That is one of the key media. In fact in the last quarter or so we have only been focusing on digital media, we have not been doing any other kind of offline activities

In your category, performance based advertisement works the best. With new engagement forms such as videos coming up on internet, what are your thoughts on visual brand building exercises on internet in India?

Definitely. Internet is in an evolution state in the country. Almost every day there is something new that is coming up. We at Yebhi believe in trying out everything and then on the basis of numbers and the response that we see, we tend to scale it up. So we have divided our digital marketing strategy into three clear parts. One is for acquisition of new users, the other is for retention and nurturing existing user base and the third is customer service.

These are the key objectives that we have set out and on this basis we use different media. So social media, which includes Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest has a big contribution towards acquisition of new users plus cutomer service. We use things like emailers and SMS for targeting the existing user base or customer retention. That's largely what we do.

Within social media, if I look at it from customer acquisition perspective, Facebook works the best for us. The kind of ROI's we get from Facebook are the best. Twitter is a tool which helps us spread across any communication plus it is also a customer service tool.

Do you feel that online companies should build their brand on traditional media and acquire customers online?

We use the offline media very strategically at different points in time like to acquire new users, create awareness about the brand or create awareness about some services that you have launched. As of now we are focusing on online media.

One more thing that has happened in the last one to two years in the online media is that today there are over 150 million users of the internet, which means that Internet is now a mainstream medium, it is not a peripheral medium. We are an online company, so it helps us if we reach out to the people who are online.

Our belief is that out of the 150 million people online, less than 10 million people transact online, so the headroom there itself is very high in getting those people to transact with us.

How important do you think is the social media for promoting your brand in India?

Very, very important. Facebook today has over 80 million users, on a monthly basis. So especially for brands like ours which are into fashion and lifestyle, Facebook works really well. Our audiences are in the age group of 18 to 35 years and most of these are today using social media, so it is a great medium to reach out to them. Secondly, Facebook allows you to hypertarget, say if I want to reach out to students within the age group of 18 to 22 years, with specific interests in movies or books or sports, we are actually able to do that very efficiently, which only Facebook allows us to do. This is what helps us get better ROI's.

With so many e-commerce sites vying for consumers’ attention on social media, how do you make sure that Yebhi stands out?

In any other media, you will have competition and other players competing for that space, so you tend to make your offers the best offers and try and make you products available and see the response. So that is what we also try because we are also competing for the same space and the same users.

Tell us about Yebhi’s most successful campaign so far on digital media.

We had done a Facebook a few months back and even the Facebook team told us that it was one of the most successful Facebook campaigns ever in the e-commerce category in India. This campaign promoted a range of shoes and the kind of creatives we had led to amazing numbers of visits to our site, this was the highest that any other category had seen. In fact the proof of that it did extremely well was that other competitors copied it.

Internet is said to be a measurable medium. What is your take on this? Have we overdone the measurement quotient and made this medium hard to understand for the brand marketers?

Not at all, today even the offline media is seeing granular measurement. I think it is good to have measurement because finally you are spending money. It is good to understand where each Dollar and each Rupee of yours are being spent. It is a good thing as because of online media people are learning how to measure lot of other media as well, they are applying similar metrics to other media today. Online media has done a good thing, it has made marketing a lot more scientific than it used to be.

Today you know what works and what doesn’t work and whatever works, you are able to scale it up.

How do you see your marketing objectives aligning with what the online medium offers from two years down the line?

As mentioned before the marketing objectives are customer acquisition; retention and nurturing the existing user base; and customer service. So these objectives are no something that will keep on changing every day, so they will remain and maybe there will be other media which will get added on to each of these which will help us fulfill these objectives, I think that’s what might change.

What answers do you seek from your digital advertising agencies and digital media partners while promoting your brand on internet?

Digital is very nascent in India, so a lot of companies are still trying to understand the language of Internet. Internet is also about a lot of numbers and a lot of advertising on internet is very technical. So I really hope that new digital agencies start adding people with technical skills and have a good combination of creative and technical people which will be a good thing to do. This is happening with some of the companies but this is not happening all over. 

 

Nickhil Jakatdar, CEO and Founder, Vuclip is a serial entrepreneur from Silicon Valley. Prior to Vuclip, Nickhil was instrumental in the founding and running of three successful startups. Nickhil led Praesaugus, CommandCAD, and Timbre Technologies through financing, tremendous growth and eventual acquisition. Nickhil received his M.S. and Ph.D. from University of California Berkeley and has been the recipient of many awards from various organizations. He has to his credit more than 30 patents and 20 conference papers.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Nickhil talks about the recently launched buffer-free mobile video tech and the shaping up of the overall mobile landscape in the near future.

Tell us more the new buffer-free mobile video technology that you have launched recently?

Vuclip recently launched the company’s latest innovation Vuclip app for Android powered by the patent-pending Dynamic Adaptive Transcoding technology. The app represents a breakthrough combination of innovative technology and amazing content. Video loading times and frequent buffering often exasperates consumers, the Dynamic Adaptive Transcoding combats this frustration by creating a quality experience across device and network types. This innovative technology enables the simultaneous transcoding or optimization of the content to each specific device and dynamically adapts the video stream to the constantly varying bandwidth of carrier and Wi-Fi networks. With the new Android app, consumers all around the world can now enjoy their favorite content such as Bollywood movies and songs, the latest billboard hits in the U.S., crucial soccer game highlights in Latin America as well as longer duration content such as TV serials, movies and sports programmes. With more than 1.75 million downloads to date, the app already has 120,000 monthly active users consuming short and long form global and regional content and it has garnered more than 3500 reviews. The Vuclip Android app witnesses engagement levels of approximately 95 video minutes per active user each month.

How willing are brands to adopt the mobile video platform for marketing and advertising?

Consumers have moved from prime time to palm time – meaning consumers decide when and where they watch videos and the content they choose to watch. The insatiable appetite for news, fashion, sports, music and movies is fueling consumption of content on mobile devices. Brands have already acknowledged this shift and they want to be present on the mobile platform because that’s fast becoming the preferred screen for the consumers. In fact, in a country like India, mobile is the first and the only screen for millions of people. For brands, this represents an unprecedented opportunity to reach this previously untapped audience in a targeted manner. Brands are keen to work with strategic partners who understand the mobile video space, offer the widest reach and deepest engagement and provide true brand metrics beyond CPMs and CTRs for analyzing campaign effectiveness. Vuclip has worked with over 50 brands by offering them innovative reach, attention and loyalty solutions.

How many users do you currently have? How has been the growth curve for Vuclip in India?

Vuclip globally has over 80 million unique monthly users out of which 20 million are from India. India is a key market for us. While the number of viewers has been on a fast rise, we also continue to create growth opportunities for all parts of the mobile ecosystem in India including consumers, mobile operators, content providers, brands and OEMs.

Vuclip powers the entire video section of Airtel’s Re.1 entertainment store, which has been a huge success with consumers with its attractive pricing, engaging content and excellent viewing experience. Vuclip also works with other key carriers in India such as Vodafone and Idea to offer customized video solutions and has witnessed rapid growth for mobile videos across carriers.

Our premium content partnerships have grown at a fast pace as we help our partners monetize their digital assets in an easy and secure environment. On the advertising side as well, we have seen increasing traction from top brands to reach their audience in a targeted and engaging manner.

Vuclip is increasingly working with the makers of low cost Android devices to ensure that the video experience is optimized for those devices on the 2G and 3G networks available in India.

What is the reason behind Vuclip’s focused strategy for mobile only?

In many developing countries around the world, people have directly caught onto the mobile wave without ever having the opportunity to experience Internet. Vuclip was founded with the goal of democratizing mobile video so people around the world can enjoy their favorite content on any network and on any device.  As mentioned previously, mobile is the first and only screen for millions in emerging countries like India and people are keen to access their favorite content within the comforts of their handsets. While the potential for mobile video is tremendous, when compared with the desktop world, the mobile ecosystem is much more complex with hundreds of different devices and constantly varying network speeds. Given this fragmentation of the market, serving videos on the mobile platform is far more challenging from a technology standpoint and we decided to convert this challenge into an opportunity. We are excited with our journey so far to reach over 80 million users globally per month.

How has been the response from advertisers for your mobile platform?

The response has been really great- Vuclip has worked with over 50 brands like Cadbury, HUL, P&G, Red Bull, Samsung and many more. The advertisers are extremely happy with the Vuclip platform as it resolves several key challenges that they face on the mobile platform such as reach, engagement and measurability.

The widest reach: Vuclip serves videos on any network and on any device thus offering the widest reach. Vuclip is a youth platform with over 65 per cent of the audience in the 18-35 age group – a demographic that brands are eager to tap into. In addition to urban areas, we have significant number of viewers from tier II and tier III towns, broadening the reach for brands. With a buffer–free experience, Vuclip is in a unique, advantageous position to keep the audience engaged.     

Customized solutions: Vuclip offers a portfolio of solutions, including ad units and vertical channels, to capture the attention of relevant viewers as well as programs that help with user engagement and loyalty.

True brand metrics: In addition to standard measurement tools such as CPM and CTRs, Vuclip is also the first company in mobile advertising to introduce key brand metrics in partnership with Millward Brown. These brand metrics such as purchase intent and brand favorability empower advertisers to evaluate and optimize the performance of mobile ad campaigns toward their overall marketing goals.

And how are content providers faring? Is it all Bollywood-driven or you also see an uptake for other content?

Currently, content providers’ strategic digital assets get lumped in with the clutter of user generated content and those assets aren’t given the special treatment they deserve when it comes to monetization. We pride ourselves on being the only mobile provider that makes this differentiation for content providers. A key part of this is educating consumers. The mobile content ecosystem is heavy on piracy and free ad supported content, but when educated, we find that consumers are interested in and willing to pay for premium content.

We serve global as well as regional content tailored to our consumers’ interests. In different parts of the world, different genres of content are popular. For example in Latin America, soccer videos are popular, in Middle East devotional content is popular and in SEA local pop music videos are popular. In India, Bollywood inspires the most viewership and Astrology, Cricket and Devotional are also very popular.

How do you see the overall mobile landscape shaping up in near future?

The mobile landscape is very exciting today. The lines between smart phones and feature phones have blurred. There are several sub $100 mobile phones available, opening up mobile internet opportunities for millions of people around the world. Mobile video is going to be at the forefront of mobile internet revolution. According to recent reports mobile video consumption is poised to grow 16 fold till 2017. The app space is abuzz with consumers wanting a ‘smart inside beautiful outside’ experience when viewing mobile videos.

There are some other interesting trends that we have discovered in terms of consumer preferences that will shape the mobile video space. One of our recent studies indicated that people are eager to share mobile video on social networks with their friends and families and this is becoming a social phenomenon. Another interesting trend in this space is that people want to watch long-form content such as movies and soaps on mobile phones and the youth are clearly leading this shift. Our latest study pointed that over 80 per cent of Indians are keen to watch their favourite movies and TV serials on mobile phones.

Besides India, which other geographies are you focusing on currently and what has been the response there?

We are expanding rapidly in Middle East, South East Asia, Africa and Latin America. Consumer response from these markets is soaring because our deep understanding of consumer preferences helps us in serving content tailored to their likings. Additionally, we serve mobile videos on any network and on any device which is further fuelling the existing demand for mobile videos in these markets. We are working with top carriers in the Middle East and South East Asia to introduce models similar to Airtel Entertainment Store to take mobile videos to the masses at a very affordable price via a transparent and safe environment for consumers. This will democratize mobile video content in these countries and rapidly increase data penetration in a way that’s respectful of carriers’ bandwidth.

Vuclip has also started conducting other surveys as well. Is it just an add-on service or do you see it as integral to Vuclip’s business strategy in near future?

Surveys provide us important insights that help us understand pulse of the consumers so that we can tailor our offerings better, serving exactly what consumers in different parts of the world like. This is at the foundation of the great success Vuclip has witnessed. We conduct surveys every quarter and share the findings in the form of a Global Video Insight [GVI] report that shines light on current consumer preferences and trends.

We also do topical surveys on important social issues to provide a gauge of public mood. For example, we conducted a survey after the Delhi rape case to understand public opinion on the reasons, preventive measures and punishment for tackling the heinous crime.

Lastly, we also conduct brand surveys to gather insights on crucial brand metrics to understand effectiveness of mobile ad campaigns.

What are your future plans?

Vuclip is to mobile what YouTube is to the desktop. We are about powering the entire mobile ecosystem today and in the future, specifically:

• -As mentioned before, we have seen tremendous success of Airtel Re. 1 Entertainment Store, which is powered by Vuclip. We want to help all the carriers in emerging markets ramp up data revenues by offering customized and innovative mobile video solutions in a friction free way for consumers. Data is the future of carriers.

• -Content is at the center of our strategy. For consumers, we offer a world of amazing videos accessible on their fingertips and these videos are optimized for whatever device or network they may be on. To this end, we are focused on offering more localized content and will continue to forge new partnerships towards this goal.

• -Given that on mobile we have the widest reach, highly engaged consumers and meaningful ROI metrics, our focus is to partner with more brands to help them connect with consumers. For those brands we deliver unparalleled reach, attention, engagement and loyalty, even with consumers who could never be reached before.

Sandip Chakraborty is the Sr. Vice President, Digital and IT at Bharti AXA General Insurance. He has over 24 years of work experience in the field of insurance with 11 years of experience in the field of Information Technology and Project Management.

Sandip started his career with National Insurance Company Limited. He worked in various departments in Regional and Operating Offices and gained expertise in insurance with specialization in Marine and Project Insurance. Prior to joining Bharti AXA General Insurance, he joined IffcoTokio General Insurance. He was the Head of Business Process and Management Group and was responsible for setting up the IT Infra and business applications on a pan-India level to cater to all business requirements.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Sandip talks about reaching out to the consumers through the digital medium.

How does the digital medium figure in Bharti AXA General Insurance's plans to reach out to consumers?

The insurance industry in India is slowly but steadily moving towards the online medium. With only 9% of the population online, there is a huge untapped potential in this sector. The digital platform has made lives easier and businesses across categories are optimising their presence here to increase their reach to customers. The digital medium is a primary focus for Bharti AXA GI. We in fact conducted a survey to study the needs and demands of customers and their online buying pattern of insurance. Based on the insights collected, we recently launched a user friendly website to ease the online purchase of insurance.

Tell us more about newly launched website www.bharti-axagi.co.in. Which services are you offering through the portal?

Bharti AXA GI’s new website is easy on the eye and provides a user friendly interface across all categories of insurance. Some of the features that provide a user friendly buying experience are:

- Transparency – instant quote; clear mentions of what you get and what you don’t (inclusions & exclusions in policy) and clear mentions of premium for the products and add-ons purchased
- Easy to buy, innovative bouquet of products and add-ons
- Instant issuance and mailing of policy document
- De-jargonising – technical terms explained clearly
- Ease of purchase
- Unique Offer page displaying multiple product/plan offers during quick quote
- Competitive pricing

We are also looking at enhancing our website in the near future for retail claims with the introduction of end to end solutions to ease the entire claims process for customers, ranging from claims notification, reserving, investigation, survey and assessment to claims payment. The new website is a strategic step and we hope it will only boost the overall insurance penetration in the country by widening the access to insurance across the country, irrespective of physical presence.

Which according to you have been some of the most exciting online campaigns that the company has initiated for its brand so far?

We use the online medium extensively to promote all our products. We use different channels like our website, social media, SEO and SEM as well as display media campaigns in good measure for this. A recent online campaign to note has been around motor insurance offerings, where we used SEM extensively. We are also looking at launching an online campaign around our health insurance offerings very soon.

What answers do you seek from your digital advertising agencies and digital media partners while promoting your brand on internet?

We work closely with our ad agencies and online partners to promote our brand. Some of the key elements we work on are brand saliency/recall, share of voice, lead generation, directing traffic towards website, customer experience, responsive web design/mobile optimization etc.

What scope do you see in the social media space? Have you seen any transactions happening through social media or is it just an information dissemination platform?

India is already the third-largest (behind China and the US) when it comes to internet marketing in terms of users. Social media is a huge networking platform and an important consideration for any organization to reach its desired target customers. We look at social media as an effective platform to solicit feedback from customers, disseminating more information on products, providing support in claims wherever required etc.

Do you also have a dedicated YouTube channel? What kind of content you share there?

Yes, we have a dedicated YouTube channel and are currently in the process of enhancing it. We share marketing campaigns, employee feedback, customer feedback, communication from CEO etc on this channel.

In the context of BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance), both online and offline transactions take place. But there is a perception that people research and compare products online and buy them offline. What do you think of this perception? Is it likely to change anytime soon?

The growth in internet usage has led to the rise of E-Commerce. The comfort level for conducting financial transactions online has been increasing steadily and this has had a ripple effect on the online purchase of insurance as well. The future of the online insurance industry with respect to online transactions is very bright. Online platforms are faster and smarter, more educative, informative and intuitive, making the purchase possible with just a click. Further, even in terms of post purchase interactions and feedback, the online medium is easy and convenient.

Is there an online channel through which consumers can buy Bharti AXA Insurance without physically going?

Our new interactive and user friendly website allows customers to get a quote on our products online and once the decision is made, purchase of the insurance is also possible online. We offer Motor & Health policy buying online in a very convenient manner.

What are Bharti AXA General Insurance's current digital spends? Will they move in terms of growth and focus this year?

As indicated earlier, the digital medium is very important to us. We are spending adequately to grow this channel manifold. For this purpose, in addition to our local spending, we are bringing best practices from our JV partners who are very prominent in digital world. In addition to convenience and best price offered to the online customers, we strive towards bringing transparency and security for the customers to transact with us.

How do you see your marketing objectives aligning with what the online medium offers two years down the line?

Currently we are very focused on digital marketing. In the coming years the thrust on digital will only be more for us. With the fast growing penetration of internet, customers are fast moving towards this medium and this will soon be the avenue to address the maximum captive audience. Further, with e-commerce, the online purchase of insurance is set to grow. In fact through the digital medium, companies can increase their reach even in tier 1 & 2 cities and towns where they may or may not be physically present. Even for creating awareness, the digital medium is where the market is moving. Hence, from sales to PR and to brand building perspectives, the importance of the digital platform is growing. It is slated to become a crucial component of a company’s marketing objectives, as crucial as television or print.

An IIT Kanpur alumnus, Pawan Agarwal is the Business Head of Gaana.com- music streaming portal by Times Internet. With over 11 years of experience, prior to joining Gaana, he was the COO at Sunstone Business School. He has been associated with companies like Lime Labs India, GlobalLogic, Xthetic Systems and Amsoft Systems in various capacities.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Pawan talks about the new look of Gaana.com, the uptake of the platform on mobile and regional music tie-ups.

Firstly, what prompted the site’s new look?

Gaana.com is the numero uno music streaming service in India, and we have always wanted to provide a world-class music experience to our users. The main intent was to give the users an enhanced experience while keeping it simple.

The new look, packaged with a faster search engine, makes it easier to browse and discover favorite music from a large collection of over 2 million songs. The available music catalogue is spread across Bollywood, International and Regional spanning 84 languages and multiple genres. The new site boasts of thousands of editorially curated playlists, professionally programmed radio streams and a host of social & personalization features. Gaana 3.0 has moved to a flat and responsive design and is much lighter than the previous version and hence is better organized for easier music discovery.

How has been the uptake of the platform so far?

Gaana has a registered user base of over 2.5 million users with over 6 Million unique visitors and is growing rapidly. The engagement metrics on the site in terms of average listening time are pretty encouraging and are expected to go higher up with the new version.

How is the mobile platform of the site doing? Do you get more traffic through mobile phones or computers?

Uptake of Gaana has been equally good on mobile too. We have a substantial user base on mobile which uses mobiles to access Gaana on Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows platforms and Java enabled devices. The mobile users of Gaana are also growing at a swift pace.

How far is the regional music responsible for driving traffic to the site?

We have an extensive catalogue of regional content and the widest catalogue of English content. These along with our Bollywood content have been responsible for driving the traffic to our site. At Gaana, we plan to roll out customized music profile for our users based on their content preferences in the coming months.

Do you have any more such tie-ups with regional music players in the pipeline?

We have been discussing content tie ups with a lot of regional music labels and you will see this in the coming months.

How well has been the monetization of Gaana.com so far?

While monetization on the site has been good, providing the consumers with an engaging music experience through a world-class product has been our top most priority. We strongly believe that if we get the product right, monetization will follow.

Mohit Goel is the Executive Vice President & Head – Marketing at ING Life Insurance. He has over 15 years of experience in Marketing, Customer Engagement and Sales spanning across Telecom and Financial Services. At ING Life Insurance, he is responsible for managing the Brand, Digital,Customer Engagement and Corporate Communications.

Prior to joining ING Life Insurance in 2011, Mohit was the Head of Marketing & Director at Tata AIG General Insurance where he was instrumental in establishing Tata AIG as a brand of significance in the general insurance category. In addition to Marketing, he was also responsible for setting up the e-Commerce business for Tata AIG. He has also worked with ICICI Prudential Asset Management, as Vice President& Head – Marketing. He began his career in 1998 with Hutch (now known as Vodafone),  and worked across various functions in Sales and Marketing and was responsible for setting up the Telemarketing – Direct Channel for the Company which was a first move by any telecom company. 

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Mohit talks about how ING Vysya is leveraging digital medium including new formats such as mobile and video content to reach out to their consumers. 

How does the digital medium figure in ING Vysya’s plans to reach out to consumers? 

The increasing adoption of the digital medium both by customers and sellers makes the medium very important for any financial services company. Specifically in case of Life Insurance, more and more customers are going online to research about products and services. This active research is leading to enquiries and conversions. We at ING Life Insurance have been participating in the digital boom using multiple platforms. We look at digital as a self-sustainable ecosystem for our critical stakeholders namely customers, advisors and employees. After gaining experience over past few years, we realized that having a robust digital destination like a well-equipped website will be a key to pursue our digital endeavors. So, we have invested in developing an intuitive, interactive and an intelligent website.  

Before I delve into the role the website will play, let me share the basic pillars on which our website strategy rests: 

Pillar 1 :  Help customers decide on the right insurance solution.
Pillar 2 :  Engage with existing customers through online self-service.
Pillar 3 :  Enable the sales force (including advisors) to sell better. 

We see that our new website inglife.co.in is set to become the center of all our initiatives using the digital medium. Keeping in view the customer’s needs we have made everything available that customer seeks. An appealing layout and easy to find information makes navigation look like child’s play. Couple this with some customer friendly features like an intelligent, well-structured product segment, robust knowledge center that talks all the things about insurance, simplified online claim filing and premium payment interface, comprehensive customer services, and planning tools that help you plan your financial futures well, the website has it all covered. The icing on the cake is it is extremely friendly and gets along well with all devices. Your smartphones, phablets, tablets, desktops and laptops.

Which according to you have been some of the most exciting online campaigns that the ING Vysya has initiated for its brand so far? 

I would like to talk about our campaign targeting Indians based in the UK. We actively pitched our retirement solution to Indians working in the UK offering them to transfer their UK pension funds to an Indian scheme and benefit from better returns. The digital medium played a vital role in terms of lead generation. We used a mix of Google Search and LinkedIn to generate these leads. We generated response from Indian based in UK as well as India. The follow-up conversations were driven using email and Skype. 

During the 6 month period of offer, the enquiries contributed handsomely to the overall business. We were really happy with the returns generated from the campaign.  In the BFSI sector, performance based digital advertising works best. With the advent of new forms of content such as video and apps, what are your plans around this? We truly believe in performance based digital advertising. We look at last mile conversions on every campaign that we execute. Like in case of many other companies, the digital medium provides us with the opportunity to sharp target the most relevant audience and drive maximum output. However, this does not mean that we only look at lead generation.

We have started using a mix of mobile and video content to test the opportunity that these new forms provide. As a brand we are looking at captivating, educating and creating loyalty with our digital marketing efforts. Our Mobile app for our customers and advisors is our first step in the mobile application space, while we see a larger potential in this space. We are looking at actively using videos to drive customer education by explaining complex insurance concepts in a simple engaging manner.  

What answers do you seek from your digital advertising agencies and digital media partners while promoting your brand on internet? 

We truly believe in performance based digital advertising. We look at last mile conversions on every campaign that we execute. We expect the agencies to take a similar approach.

What scope do you see in the social media space? Have you seen any transactions happening through social media or is it just an information dissemination platform? 

ING Life Insurance is active in social media using the following platforms:-          

LinkedIn in which is a community of people “already engaged” or “wanting to engage” with ING Life Insurance in some manner-          

You Tube which we use to promote our video content-          

Online Reputation Management where we actively listen to customer conversations.  

Do you also have a dedicated YouTube channel? What kind of content you share there? 

Yes, we have an active ING Life Insurance YouTube Channel. We use this as largely to promote our mainline advertising campaigns in the digital space.   

In the context of BFSI, both online and offline transactions take place. But there is a perception that people research and compare products online and buy them offline. What do you think of this perception? Is it likely to change anytime soon? 

ROBO, as the concept, is better known world over. This means life insurance buyers Research Online and Buy Offline. This is largely due to the nature of products where customers feel comfortable in dealing with someone face to face. This is also a reason why life insurance advisor continue to be the preferred channel for customers to buy insurance. However, the online medium is increasingly become important for insurance seekers because they get all information at the click of a button. This makes them feel well informed before they get into a face to face interaction. In addition to being a research based medium, the digital medium helps customers validate the propositions that are offered to them by various channels of sales.

Is there an online channel through which consumers can buy ING Vysya Insurance without physically going? 

No. We currently do not offer online insurance policy issuance. However we actively promote our online payment features amongst our customers so that they can pay their renewal premiums without physically visiting our collection centers. 

What are ING Vysya’s current digital spends? Will they move in terms of growth and focus this year?

We cannot share the exact numbers. However they form a significant portion of our overall marketing spend.  

How do you see your marketing objectives aligning with what the online medium offers two years down the line? 

Digital will continue to play an important role helping us meet our overall marketing objectives. In fact we see the role of digital becoming even more important. I would like to bring in the three pillars of our digital strategy which I spoke about earlier in this interaction. The pillars are perfectly aligned to our immediately and long term marketing objectives. 

Pillar 1: Help customers decide on the right insurance solution.
Pillar 2: Engage with existing customers through online self-service.
Pillar 3: Enable the sales force (including advisors) to sell better. 

We will see increased contribution and strengthening of each of these pillars through an increased participation through the digital medium.   

Sandeep Behl is the Co-founder and CEO of online webtoprint startup Printland.in; He has previously served as - Global Head - Customer Service, Enterprise Services and Board Member - Airtel Enterprise Business at Bharti Airtel Limited and Business Head - Enterprise Support, Global Delivery at Hewlett-Packard.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Sandeep talks about the recent funding round raised by his company, the transforming digital printing market in the country and its future plans.

What are the services offered by Printland to small businesses / entrepreneurs and how affordable are these services?

Printland.in provides business printing solutions to SME businesses and Corporate which include business cards, documents, letterheads, envelops, flyers, pamphlets etc. It also specializes in corporate merchandising, corporate gifts and customized gifts. We have identified a huge gap in India: Lack of a printing company which can offer affordable, high-quality products for small and micro businesses all across the country, many of whom live in their tier of 3 and 4 cities where such customizable products and services are not available. Most of these, more than 10 million SME (small and medium size) and micro businesses spread across India have to spend disproportionate time, energy and money to get various types of printing products. Additionally, they have to approach set of design firms to get their files designed.

The printing business in India is still an ‘old-economy’ business with 250,000 printing presses/ shops, most of which are family run businesses with no focus on Customer needs, Marketing needs and Retail requirements. None of these printing presses is a customer facing organization or a recognizable brand or offer a ‘one-stop-shop’ experience.

Printland, through its business innovations and smart integration of various technologies, primarily web-2-print, is making ordering business printing and merchandise a delight for SME, retail and corporate customers which not only saves them precious time but reduces costs as well.

What is the USP of your offerings?

We believe that our USP is the online studio and readymade templates where customers can easily design / edit and order products. Thus, they save time and money that they would pay to the designers. 

You have just raised Rs 5 cr from SIDBI, how do you plan to utilize the funds?

The funds raised will be used for expansion in global markets and acquiring specialized equipments of international standards.

How many orders are you clocking monthly?

We are clocking about 10,000 orders monthly.

What is the average transaction size at Printland?

It is confidential as of now.

What are the challenges you have faced while reaching to new age SME's

Reaching new age SMEs is not a problem. It’s the traditional SME based in tier 3 / 4 cities where awareness is limited and more product trials are needed. 

What is the guarantee that the order generated through the platform will reach to the user on time and what is the procedure of tracking the order?  

The production and delivery times are mentioned on the product pages. The shipments are couriered with best logistics companies in India and customers can track it using online POD numbers. The number of complaints in this regard is insignificant.

When so you see the venture breaking-even?

It is already break-even.

Out of the bouquet of services you offer, which is the most popular?

The Business printing is the largest business segment of Printland followed by corporate merchandise in revenue terms. We have launched a huge variety of Customized Products that caters to both the social as well as corporate gifting segment. Greeting Cards, Photo Mugs, Posters, Collages, Photo Prints, Picture Puzzles, Photo Rocks, Sippers, phone covers, laptops skins, Laptop sleeves, Canvas Printing and many more to explore.
To add to this for the SME’s, Retailers and the Corporate Customers there is a wide range of promotional products and business stationery products as well. Business Card Holders, Key Chains, Pens, Ceramic Plates, Wall Clocks, Organizers, Letterheads, Envelopes, Certificates, Invitation Cards, ID Cards etc.
 
How many clients do you have?

Currently, we have 30,000 clients, which includes corporate and SME customers.

Who do you consider as your strongest competitor and how do you plan to overtake them?                    

The market size is huge ($20 billion) and has the capacity to absorb at least 10 companies of each with revenues of 500 crores+. The web2print market in USA is already at 30% of local $ 1 trillion, while India is still in nascent stage. The stage of competing is yet to come as all players will continue to create this market for next 4 -5 years through their unique business models.

Please share with us your future plans.

We aim to grow aggressively, expand margins by going overseas and create best technology for the customer.

Jyotsna Makkar is a senior marketing professional with rich experience across Business Strategy, Portfolio Management, Brand Management and Innovation. She currently leads the Central Marketing Organization at Microsoft India, responsible for consumer and commercial Marketing across Microsoft's portfolio of devices and services.

Prior to Microsoft, she has worked as an independent management consultant applying her skills across diverse business and marketing challenges including portfolio strategy, big bet innovation, brand strategy and capability build. During her stint at PepsiCo, she led key categories at company’s Snacks and Beverage businesses, scaling up brands like Pepsi, Mountain Dew, 7 Up, Nimbooz, Mirinda and Kurkure.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Jyotsna talks about how crucial digital (web and mobile) is for Microsoft India. She also discussed video becoming a crucial medium for brands and how Microsoft to leverage it for its advertising and marketing strategy.

How Microsoft is leveraging the digital medium - both internet and mobile figure to reach out to consumers?

Owing to the diverse portfolio of Microsoft’s products, we communicate with a wide spectrum of audiences. Web and mobile hence are both compelling mediums for our brand. We use each one for its unique strength – while web gives us reach, mobile is used primarily to drive engagement and social media enables always-on conversations and generates virality.

Which according to you have been some of the most exciting online campaigns that the company has initiated for its brand so far?

FY13 was a big launch year for MS; we did a lot of exciting campaigns across consumer segments. For Windows 8, we reached the peer-influencer, through a highly integrated campaign across TV, print and digital. We leveraged video assets on mobile & social to create awareness & drove experiences through augmented reality on mobile. With our Office 365 campaign we reached out to SMB BDMs across key-markets in interesting ways – we took over the union budget livecast on MoneyControl website and drove real-time contextual messaging of government policies on small and medium businesses. Through a rich mix of print, online and offline activities we created a high-impact launch for Office 365.

In your category, performance based online advertisements works the best. With new engagement forms such as videos coming up on internet, what are your thoughts on visual brand building exercises on internet in India?

Growing usage of mobile internet has opened up interesting opportunities for brands & marketers and a lot of video content is consumed through mobile devices. This trend works quite well for a brand like ours as we move into the services & devices ecosystem. We have leveraged video to tell interesting stories about our products, which has resonated quite well with our audiences. Video is now an integral part of our content marketing strategy.

How do you see your brand leveraging display advertisements on internet?

As shared earlier, display adverts through web, gives us reach. Our endeavor here is to lead with interesting and relevant content, with a clear call to action – trial, download, event registration etc. We have used rich-media formats in interesting ways across campaigns and have been early adopters in using innovative concepts across display and social media.

What answers do you seek from your digital advertising agencies and digital media partners while promoting your brand on internet?

While questions like reach, audience profile, and content relevance, targeting options, measurement & performance are definitely there, we are also very mindful of brand safety. In an online world, things can go drastically wrong, if not setup & monitored properly – under no circumstances would we like our brand to be associated with inappropriate content of any nature.  We also want to stay ahead of the curve; test & learn is core to us.

What innovations would you as a brand; want from online publishers in the country?

While new-gen platforms are quite progressive and agile, I think some of the traditional, mainstream publishers need to amp their game on innovation. We want to do interesting things online, but many a times are constrained by the platform’s ability.    

How do you see the importance of social media for promoting your brand in India? 

Social media has changed marketing from a communication art to an art of creating & participating in conversations with advocates and also the detractors. We have thriving communities across key social platforms, which we leverage for always-on engagement with our consumers.

People are speaking about mobile being a great medium for brand communication, but still, very less amounts are spent on the particular medium. What is your take on this?

That’s correct, and we are watching the space closely to stay with the trend & spend adequately on the mobile medium. Constraint we currently face is the limited relevant inventory and robust measurement.

How do you see Microsoft's’ digital spends moving this year - in terms of growth and focus?

We will be spending more across digital this year - social, mobile & video will be key to this. Focus will be to lead with innovative solutions to deliver high-impact for our brand; we would like to invest in digital solutions / programs that can deliver direct ROI for our business.

How do you see your marketing objectives aligning with what the online medium offers from two years down the line?

As shared before, we are watching the trend closely; we would like to leverage efficient ways of connecting with our existing customers & reach out to new ones, and believe digital will play a significant role in this.