A veteran in media industry, Prashanto Das has 19 years of experience in broadcast operations for some of India’s leading networks and media companies. He has set up and launched brands like Times Now, Bloomberg TV India and the UTV Network. In his last stint as Network Head for Creative Services for UTV, he led India’s largest media brand transformation exercise.

Prashanto has set up many large creative teams delivering thousands of hours of creative output and has worked with international, award-winning design houses while executing large and complex brand projects. In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, he talks about his digital venture Ping Digital, its uptake and future plans.

You have a vast experience in television medium. What prompted you to venture into online video space and launch Ping Digital Network?

Having been part of large television startups, it was clear that the next venture would be as big or bigger. It was pretty apparent back then too that mainstream television would always be challenged in allowing viewers to be more engaged or would ever have true interactive formats. It completely contradicted what one was seeing the world move to.

We felt that there were huge content opportunities, which were not being addressed or could be addressed in newer formats for audiences which are increasingly consuming via the digital pipe. We spent some time studying the market closely, mostly in the United States and concluded that there was a clear opportunity to build an enterprise here. The difference we realized had to be scale, at a level not demonstrated before, which is also our challenge. 

Today after Google, YouTube is the next largest search engine. Through the social media phenomena in the recent years, there is an obvious need for increased interactivity, higher levels of engagement and a more personal way of consuming media. The internet also provides you with a huge advantage of global audiences.

Content - anytime, anywhere - your desk top, your laptop, your iPhone, your smartphone, your iPad  to even your 42” smart TV seems to be the obvious mantra. This reality is what promoted Google owned YouTube sometime in December 2011 to announce the launch of 100 premium (professional) channels, each of which would carry original content further ratified our belief. With an initial investment of $100 million, the internet giant had  tied up with original content developers to create new and experimental programs, in an effort to make the service more TV-like and also compete against video-on-demand (VoD) services while increasing viewership and getting more advertisers on board.  

This move by Google further ratified our own belief in this model. This is the era of re-imagination of almost everything. Technology is just about changing anything- small is beautiful and broadcasters or television or otherwise will need to re-align themselves to this reality.

How has been the uptake of Ping in terms of subscription, user no and traffic?

To be honest, we always knew that being in this medium would certainly be very exciting but we never expected the level of engagement and views received. Clearly our content appeals to the cross section of viewers we cater to, it’s a level of engagement where we actively get promoted on social media and also receive comments and emails.

In the 10 months of operation, the time spent on PING content has already been watched over 13 years  now. Views have grown by an average 50% month on month while the subscriber base grows at 100% month on month to now over 23,000 subscribers across  the network. The content also extends beyond our You Tube channels and now engages with an active community of over 42,000 fans on the Facebook platform and  we are already feeding this community with over 60 minutes of original content created every day across the various categories that we are present in.

What is Ping Digital’s business model?

We are a multi channel infotainment network focused on offering premium original content in the digital space. Our content is high quality, high value and has a high shelf life  that caters to a global audience. While providing Content - anytime, anywhere is important, we are also focused on building conversations and communities around our content. As with any broadcasting operation, PING also engages with advertisers to create revenue opportunities. With digital marketing spends increasing and content becoming a part of brand strategy, PING  is looking to capture a larger market share.

What type of video content do users consume the most in India? Share with us some recent trends observed in online video consumption space.

As per the latest comScore report  released on Aug 22nd 2013, at 73.9 million home and work internet users, the Indian online population currently ranks as the third largest in the world after China and the U.S. The Indian blogging audience grew 48 percent in the past year to 36 million visitors, while 54 million internet users in India watched online videos on their computer, representing a 27 percent increase over the past year. 3.71 billion videos are currently being consumed per month in India alone. These are mind boggling numbers. While Bollywood still dominates consumption in the Indian video market, the rise of video and it being the chosen alternative to television is only growing. Consumption patterns are changing and within the digital space, new categories will emerge. The growth of retail and the various categories within that especially food, lifestyle, and healthcare as per this report is only indicative of the change.

Tell us about the new categories that you are planning to launch?

Ping intends to be the leading content source for premium infotainment content. We continue to expand our presence in the knowledge and utility space with new channels being launched on beauty, fitness and health driven by experts like Nitya Arora for fashion accessories and Jaishree Sharath for skin care. We are also excited by our foray into Bollywood with channels like TheMJShow driven by RJ Mihir that combines the chattiness of radio with visual appeal of video allowing the viewer to take a sneak peek into a star’s veiled life. Our Bollywood dance channel gives you easy lessons on how to do the jhatkas and matkas on the latest Bollywood groove.

You have been funded by Ashwin Dhamera, former Founder of Travelguru and Ankur Daga, CEO of Angara.com. Any plans to raise another round?

Having now got the recipe to churn content like any television network would, we  are now focusing on building the brand and increasing our viewership base. Our content library also continues to grow and we continue to move to newer distribution platforms. The pace and growth has been exciting so far and we will soon get into marketing our content. We would look to raise growth capital to propel our growth to the next phase.

Do you believe that videos are being utilized optimally as a marketing tool by Indian marketers and brands?

To use the headline from the latest adweek report to  answer your question “Forget Amazon. YouTube Is Where Shoppers Do Research". According to this report more and more, users are flocking to YouTube over Amazon for all of their pre- and post-purchase discussions and this shift is not just about the volume and depth of YouTube reviews; it’s about the quality and the experience. The platform allows potential buyers to live vicariously through the reviewer. With a first-person vantage point, now every buyer can imagine them self with the product before actually making a purchase.

These video reviews get viewed, commented on and shared (and sometime even go viral) on YouTube more than any other platform, which then sparks immediate discussion and product buzz for brands. Are Indian marketers and brands leveraging this. Not as yet but this trend is too hard for a brand to ignore anywhere in the world. 

What are your thoughts on online viewing of content hurting television? How the relationship of both these mediums will change or brands in future?

Content has to be device and platform agnostic. It needs to be available anytime, anywhere for it to be seen, liked, spoken about and shared, Kevin Spacey a double Oscar winner underlined this fact at the Edinburgh Television festival  about 10 days back where he highlighted the  growth of the cord cutting revolution. He said and I quote “today’s new generation of viewers don’t see a difference between watching YouTube on a TV, “Game of Thrones” on a computer or Avatar on an iPad." It’s all content. It’s just story, and the audience has spoken. They want stories. They’re dying for them. They’re rooting for us to give them the right thing. And they will talk about it, binge on it, carry it with them on the bus and to the hairdresser, force it on their friends, tweet, blog, Facebook, make fan pages, silly GIFs, and God knows what else about it.

Engage with it with a passion and an intimacy that a blockbuster movie could only dream of. And all we have to do is give it to them. The prized fruit is right there, shinier and juicier than it’s ever been before. So it’ll be all the more shame on each and every one of us if we don’t reach out and seize it. Brands will need to adopt content that is device & platform agnostic and its creation on a sustained and engaging basis as part of their strategy. They will need to tell good stories, not once in a while but almost every day to just be relevant. Can television do that - with its limited geographical reach and an inability to have a two way communication, well the answers are  right in front of us.

Mobile is being talked about as the ‘next big brand communication and marketing tool’. How can marketers leverage mobile videos as a marketing tool?

With greater smartphone penetration what changes are you witnessing in consumption of online videos? The latest comScore report says the strong swelling of mobile audiences, devices and consumption habits have shown us that consumers have become more platform agnostic in their digital media consumption and happily switch devices throughout the day and into the night to stay up to date on email, news, social media etc. This behavior is in line with the PING strategy. Content is content and it will be device and platform and device neutral.

Mary Meeker in her report on Internet Trends predicted the advent of the asset light generation, the rise of the sharing economy. As per this report (Mary Meeker-Internet trends 2012) Q4 2012 Mobile Internet in India overtook desktop internet  and this when smartphones form only 4% of the subscriber base. The rest of the world is starting to follow this trend, with smartphone penetration increasing and bandwidth improving the future for both mobile and content look extremely promising.

Also, what is future of digital television in India and also ventures like Ping Digital?

The digital media is a dynamic and exciting space to be in. It allows you to not only create original content but build communities and engage with viewers closely and instantly, which we find very interesting. We would go so far as to predict that the next big media network will emerge in the digital  medium. Will it be PING- well keep watching this space.

Nitesh Kripalani is Executive Vice-President, New Media, Business Development & Digital/Syndication at Sony Entertainment Network (Multi-Screen Media). He is a member of the core Management team at Sony Entertainment Network India, with strong vast experience in New Media, Telecom/Tech and Strategy across start-ups and corporations. Currently he heads three different portfolios (Sports, New Media and Business development). Nitesh has led initiatives/projects and supported CXOs across industries and geographies covering new market entries, investment decisions and M&A.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, he talks about trends in Video on Demand industry, uptake of Sony LIV and company’s future plans.

Tell us about Sony’s current digital strategy (both internet and mobile)?

Our key objective is to target and mould the consumer thinking. We are focused to establish Sony LIV as the most innovative Video On Demand Service provider. We closely monitor our user data and believe in leveraging the insights to drive a superior world class viewing experience, accelerated through innovation. The approach has always been to provide the best of our content in the most seamless and user friendly way possible, hence you can find features through which users can personalize their content on our platform, create playlists of their choice and search for videos as per their mood/genre. 

When we monitored the consumption behavior of over 50,000 unique visitors on an average who log on to Sony LIV, everyday, we found that today’s viewers increasingly prefer short content formats on digital platforms. Hence, in addition to original complete content, we introduced content formats like Catch-up episodes, Quickisodes and Short crunch episodes on our platform.Sony LIV is presently available on mediums such as online, mobiles and tablets.

How has been the uptake of Sony LIV so far? If you can share user no, traffic details, views etc. What is the percentage of user traction are you getting from the mobile medium? If you can share the app download and update numbers.

As per a Sony LIV report, it is learnt that 53 percent of viewers watch videos on their mobile phones, 32 percent view them online and 15 percent, on their tablets. The report is derived from Sony LIV user data. Hence it is clear that the maximum number of video content is consumed on mobile phones. Between January to July 2013, 24.4 million cumulative video views occurred across mobiles, online and tablets. On an average, over 50,000 unique visitors log on to Sony LIV, across all platforms i.e. online, mobile and tablet, every day

What type of content is the Indian user hooked onto? 

As per Sony LIV user data analysis, nearly 78 percent of the videos consumed are comedy, drama and thriller. Comedy is viewed by 30 percent of the audience, followed by drama at 25 percent and thrillers at 23 percent. Reality shows and other genres of shows are watched by the remaining 22 percent.

Have you forged any significant content or revenue partnerships recently?

Sony LIV platform comprises of 18 years of rich content from Sony’s stable, covering genres including drama, comedy, thriller, reality shows and many more. Viewers can watch their favorite current shows and archive shows from Sony, anytime and from anywhere. We are a self-sustaining entity.

How has social media helped in dissemination of the online content in India?

Social media is offering a host of new opportunities for brands to connect directly with their target audience and to engage and interact with them, real time. The same scenario applies when it comes to brands providing video content online.  You can receive direct feedback from your consumers without any assistance from a third party research firm or distribution channel and can leverage that feedback to your advantage.

Historically, it used to be enough to have an online presence on the Internet for the one-way broadcasting and dissemination of information. Today, social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are driving new forms of social interaction, dialogue, exchange and collaboration.

Usually, VOD services work on ad revenue and subscription based revenue model. How are you monetizing Sony LIV?

We want to partner with brands to deliver their reach and branding objectives. Sony LIV is advertising supported.

How fruitful has been your association with Affle? Have you got significant revenue?

 We are very happy to associate with Affle and will look forward to more such strategic partnerships in future.

What percentage of Sony’s business is coming from digital? How much growth do you see in the number?

As a corporate policy, we do not disclose revenue figures. Nonetheless, the numbers are significant and we anticipate a sharp rise over the coming times. Our presence across diverse digital platforms like mobile, online, telecom and YouTube is quite strong and these are important sources of revenue for us. We are growing at a rate which is faster than the projected digital market growth.

How do you plan to take on competition from players like Eros Now, Zee’s DittoTv and Reliance’s BigFlix?

We believe that the competition will help grow the market. It is a good thing. Our proposition is very clear - A premium video service with content from the Sony stable from the last 18 years. We will be available wherever the user is. Our key goal is user engagement. We want fans to be immersed when they use our platform. Users can use the Mood Wheel on Sony LIV to watch their favorite video as per their mood/genre, they can create playlists of their choicest of shows through My Q and be rewarded as a LIV Guru, by consuming Sony LIV content multiple platforms, be it tablet, PC or mobile phones.

Please share your future plans for Sony LIV.

Our aim is to be the leader in the Digital Video Entertainment space.

 

Amol Dhillon is the Vice President of Strategy and Planning at Woodland, where he leads the brand management : Branding, Communication & Media, New Product  identity and Innovation Management  while overseeing marketing research, online retail and social media, merchandising and overseas business development.

Since joining Woodland in 1999, he has served in various leadership positions in business development, merchandising & sourcing, worked across various divisions and markets including India, Hong Kong, China, Europe and Canada. He was instrumental in establishing supply chain and merchandising operations for Woodland across South East Asia, where he led the global, collaborative and participatory product development process for Woodland's functional apparel and shoes line.

Prior to Woodland, he spent two years with an Italian J.V co Il Gioiello di Firenze, a leading fashion accessories firm, most recently as the marketing manager where he focused on new business development strategies  to enter the Indian market. Earlier in his career, Amol has worked with Mahindra & Mahindra in market research at Mumbai.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Amol talks about Woodland’s digital footprint, its strong social media presence and brands various online initiatives as well as future plans.

How does digital – both Internet and mobile – figure in Woodland India’s plans to reach out to consumers?

For our brand, digital has a very strong reference to social media, which has been a huge focus area and we have utilized this platform to add value to our brand. Our consumer is young and today’s youth lives online. They have a greater presence on the web than in the physical world.  They tend to do things they never experienced before and express themselves a lot more freely.  It is also a great medium for brands like us to get validation on anything we want within seconds.  Given the reach of this medium, the relevance to our consumer and the fast pace of growth, we see this as an integral part of our marketing mix.

We have used various social media touch points to influence the active online users. We have engaged the community with our products and ecofriendly activities under our CSR Initiative called ‘Proplanet’, through the social media domain. In fact, Woodland is one of the first brands to have an enormous presence on Social Media (12th most interactive Facebook page in the World). We have not just utilized the blogosphere and social networking sites, but have also created a compelling social media presence to be picked up by the larger space of the web.

Woodland has a very strong digital presence, across social media platforms: Pinterest, Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and more. The Woodland Facebook page has about 3 million fans.

Keeping all these points in mind, digital has become a core-marketing medium for Woodland today. When I say digital, I mean both the internet and mobile. So, we will use digital in a bigger way to build innovations for our consumers.
 
Woodland has done a lot of online campaigns on social media. Can you share some of the really exciting ones with us?

Keeping in line with the DNA of the brand and its Proplanet initiative, in early 2009 Woodland launched 'Woodland MTV Ecolution' India’s first digital campaign. For every virtual tree planted online,Woodland planted one on the ground. The sustainability initiative helped us to promote awareness of being Proplanet and Woodland was able to plant 60,000 trees with the help of its consumers.

This was followed by an innovative campaign - ‘StepOut2goProPlanet’ with LinkedIn for the World Environment Day theme - green economy. The campaign leveraged LinkedIn India’s member-base of professionals, urging them to step out of their offices and go pro-planet. This initiative allowed professionals to share their ideas on any one of the 10 important sectors identified by the United Nations, in turn igniting nation-wide engagement on LinkedIn. Woodland reached out to more than 15 million professionals using LinkedIn in India to spread the message and generated a corporate pool of ideas of green idea for greener environment.

Another exciting campaign on YouTube, ‘Woodland- What’s your Adventure Quotient’, aimed to find a new talented filmmaker. The winner went along with the professional team to shoot Woodland’s campaign for the season and got hands-on experience. For adventurists who are budding filmmakers, it was the best of both worlds.

Very recently, we have launched our most exciting digital campaign on Facebook called ‘Woodland -Adventurer Wanted’ in which the brand is looking for the 'Extreme Explorer' to discover unexplored adventure destinations around the world. The job ‘Extreme Explorer’ comes with enriching experiences including living costs and a film crew.

To apply, applicants need to create a 30 to 60 second persuasive and entertaining video / image application on ‘Why You are the Best Person for the Job’, demonstrating originality and commitment to adventure and post the same here. It’s that simple. What makes the whole thing more exciting is that the Facebook community will get to vote between various locations, daring outdoor sports and thrilling opportunities for the winner, with the highest vote directing the adventurer’s every challenge.  The campaign is designed with an idea to engage the online (Facebook) community present on social media platforms.

In the apparel category, visual brand building 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?

In the past few years, videos have become increasingly more visible with the share-ability factor of social media networks. Users can record videos directly through their mobile devices and can then upload and share them on social network sites of their choice. Who doesn't like watching an interesting clip? Or sharing it for that matter? Online video consumption in India has doubled in the last 2 years, with close to 60 million internet users now actively consuming video content.

It is a great tool to have on your brand’s communication platform. What makes it important is the opportunity for brands to reach out to the savvy consumer without overtly being in their face. With a dedicated target market, it is a great way to be accepted in today’s cluttered environment.

It has increasingly become much easier for us to connect to our target audience with videos and through a medium that allows for a free flow of communication both ways, making it more engaging, fun and valued. At Woodland, our communication is about adventure, outdoor sports and environment issues, and that is what the brand is all about. We are looking at using this aspect of digital marketing for Woodland in India in a big way through videos on YouTube, blogs and across social platforms.

Over the past few months, we have launched a video series – ‘Brand Ambassadors’ – on YouTube. Brand Ambassador is a video series with adventurists, outdoor sports enthusiasts and seasoned experts sharing their adventures and experiences to inspire youth to live a life full of adventure.

With a strong digital presence, a lot of quality user-generated content is posted and shared on our platforms by our audience and professional adventurers. Our continuous efforts and focus is always on making high quality content available to our subscribers.

How crucial is it for a known brand like Woodland to have an ecommerce presence in India? How has been the uptake of company’s ecommerce portal 'Woodlandworldwide.com'?

Consumers have become very tech savvy these days and practically live online. They have their entire life mapped out on the web from where to meet, whom to meet, what to eat, where to go, whom to hang out with, etc. Moreover, digital media allows a much more interactive form of communication to target a specific consumer segment, unlike the traditional medium. The reach is also measurable and response is quantifiable.

Woodland stores in Delhi NCR and Karnataka are carbon neutral and the brand has a self-set target to be carbon neutral across India by 2015. The e-commerce platforms are very low carbon footprint when compared with the regular brick and mortar stores. This is a great advantage in moving forward with eco-indexing and footprint mapping on carbon emissions.

The flexibility of shopping anytime and reading detailed reviews on use and materials makes online shopping fun, and our consumers love it.  Even though we have an extensive presence, with 416 stores across India, the e-commerce sales are registering triple digit growth every quarter. We forecast online to generate about 10% of our total sales by 2015-16.

What percentage of company’s sales comes from online ecommerce portals?

Currently, the sale from online portals is about 3% and it includes our site as well as other national and international portals, which sell our products.

How are you leveraging social media in promoting your brand? Do you think it helps in sales or is it an information dissemination platform?

As more and more consumers increasingly live life on the go, the internet is changing how they connect digitally to people, places, information, entertainment and content across genres. Social Media is the pertinent platform to engage with the youth today and thus, it is very important for us to have positive posts, inspiring pictures/videos, likes, thoughtful comments, etc. on our pages to be able to not only increase awareness but to be a part of their experiences, guide them, and advise them in their choices. This enables us to receive direct feedback and incorporate it in our products as well.

The preview and review of the new products on social pages helps consumer get detailed insights into the functionality, innovations and styles introduced by the brand. The enthusiasm and passion for the brand’s products and outdoor adventure lifestyle translates to sales in real time.

Mobile is being held as a great medium for brand communication, but still, very less amount is spent on the particular medium. What is your take on this?

Mobile is by far the most important channel to connect, communicate, and transact with the increasingly digitally savvy consumers in India. Mobile has become an integrated part of our lives and lot of innovation in communication is taking place in this medium. Our first experience with mobile started on Four Square back in 2010, and today, we have one of the most active Four Square communities in India. Geo tagging, mapping trails and adventure locations is very important when it comes to exploring outdoors.

Woodland has collaborated with its mobile audience to launch exploremore.pro, which has been a step in this direction. We are working on several innovative mobile apps for outdoor and adventure. We are also currently working on the launch of Woodland TV, which will bring the highest innovation and technology to mobile outdoor adventure.

What is Woodland doing on mobile as a medium?

We are currently experimenting with a first mobile-centric initiative to launch Woodland mobile applications across platforms iOS, Android and Blackberry. A lot of apps are being developed, including Woodland TV and an online digital adventure magazine app. The future of digital content access in India through mobile is very promising and we are making some big bets in this space through our mobile-friendly site and through a slew of both adventure and outdoor sports destinations apps that you will see in the market very soon.

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

Our understanding on technology is simple – innovate or perish. Innovation is not only required in the product but also in the communication. The revolution in technology is changing the markets, business models and consumer expectations and only the brands which embrace technology in a timely fashion will survive. The traditional mediums are no longer sustainable in isolation and digital advertising agencies are still in their early days. Content is king when it comes to digital and this is where the challenge lies – a continuous churning of innovative and interesting content in the digital factories.

What percentage of your marketing budget goes to digital?

At present, we are utilizing 25-30% of our budget for this area.

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

Every organization’s marketing objectives are now aligned with the online medium to increase visibility, retention and loyalty for the brand. Let’s understand that digital and traditional media are both just that – media to reach potential and current consumers. It’s the underlying idea behind the communication that is far more important to think through and typically, the communication objective plays an important role in defining the media mix itself.

Digital and traditional media both offer their own unique advantages and we constantly evaluate our media plans across tradition and digital media, both of which have finer segments. Is brand building possible on the Internet? – absolutely. Should an Internet business stay off traditional media without objectively evaluating it? – I would suggest not.

Kenichiro Mori has over 16 years of diversified experience in Olympus right from the sales of Microscopes and its accessories, to the sales, marketing and communication of the various product categories within the Imaging business. He has worked in various capacities in Germany and Russia. Presently, he is the Managing Director of Olympus Imaging India. In his current role he is responsible for spearheading the overall growth and profitability of the company within the region, by driving robust business strategy, providing thought leadership and guiding excellence in market performance across all categories.

Prior to taking up this position he was the Manager of Asia & Oceania Group wherein he was responsible for planning and initiating sales and marketing activity as well as setting the pricing and distribution policy of Olympus products (digital compact cameras, digital SLR) in the Asia & Oceania region.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Mori talks about how crucial is digital for Olympus as a company and the various initiatives they are working on to leverage this medium.

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

Digital medium enables two-way communication unlike the traditional mediums. We get to engage with the audience on a one-to-one basis and get direct feedback for our product line which is invaluable.

In your category, visual brand building 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?

Videos have the element of virality. Communication of our product features such as 5-axis image stabilization can be effectively done through videos. Therefore, we are heavily considering visual brand building on the internet.
 
Can you share with us any online campaigns that the company has executed for the brand?

We keep holding photo contests on Facebook. With the OlympusPro community coming up, we plan to hold a number of engagement activities online in the near future. The community as a whole will be a platform for photographers to discuss and evaluate the space. We don't look at marketing as a campaign; we look at inclusiveness as marketing.

Olympus products are being sold on major ecommerce platforms like FlipKart, Amazon etc. What percentage of your sales comes from the online medium?

We have just re-entered in Indian market in April 2013. We will be unable to discuss this media as e-commerce is just picking up. This media is new and so are we in India. But we do look to grow as e-commerce medium grows because the medium is very exciting and the potential huge.
 
Do you plan to launch a dedicated e-commerce platform for Olympus in India?

We are exploring the options, but the situation also depends on various policy decisions. We are ahead of the market in digital marketing and are looking to contribute more to these mediums as they are the next step in communications.

Tell us more about Olympus online community that you are building for photographers across the county?

Olympus has built a community for its users across the country called OlympusPro. On this online portal, the users will be able to share pictures with each other like any other social media platform. This community will focus on building engagements like contests, workshops and hands-on product experience for the users. These users will be treated as preferred customers and will be the first to know about upcoming products and avail discounts and extended warranty for the same. Olympus appreciates the potential of the consumers in India and also the potential of Social Media and has plans to boost the brand’s presence on the same.

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

We seek awareness and engagement. India is fast becoming a technology-oriented consumer market, which means for us awareness becomes top-of-line. Digital media results are measurable, traditional media results are not.

We have noticed Olympus’s social media presence in popular platforms like Facebook and Twitter is not strong? How do you plan to use social media for promoting your brand in India?

We look to build a genuine community, not purchased likes and bit followers. The commitment and engagement is necessary. Given the quality of our products, the numbers will come. Plus, as already stated, we've just entered the market. Give us some time, and substance shall hold strong, and surely speak for itself.

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?

In India, viral marketing is catching on. The last report of the TRAI states that 74% of the country is using mobile phones. The trend is on the upswing, but the moment is not right. Currently, mobile ads are seen more as an irritant than as a value-add. When the situation is right, our move will be in the right direction.
 
Is there a mobile initiative that Olympus is planning?

We are currently discussing the same with various partners. As and when something comes through, we will be able to speak about the same.
 
How do you see Olympus India’s digital spends moving this year - in terms of growth and focus?

Given the recent trends, we see a 30% increment on last year's digital spends over last year. Given that most MNCs are increasing their digital spends by roughly the same percentage, you could analyse the trend there.
 
How do you see your marketing objectives aligning with what the online medium offers from two years down the line?

Given the fact that the online infrastructure is catching on, it makes sense for us to work closely with the rising trends. We look to increase our engagement with the online media accordingly.

Sushant Sreeram, in his profile as Vice President – Product Marketing, HolidayIQ.com plays a crucial role in the growth and profitability of the business through scaling the company’s product marketing initiatives. He also identifies underlying shifts and emerging opportunities in India’s travel space to further strengthen the HolidayIQ.com brand among travellers.

Prior to his current profile, he was heading Acquisition Marketing at eBay India where he was responsible for brand development via ATL and BTL campaigns along with strengthening the customer base amongst online shoppers in India. With over 8 years’ marketing experience, he has worked with brands like Textron Inc., Hindustan Unilever Limited. Sushant has also dabbled with entrepreneurship having co-founded Inkfruit.com, an online democratic apparel brand.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Sushant talks about how digital medium is helping their company in brand building and marketing. He also explains how mobile medium will change the way content is being created and consumed as well as HolidayIQ.com’s upcoming initiatives.

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

As a digital business and as one of India’s biggest travel websites, we leverage the digital medium heavily to further strengthen the HolidayIQ.com brand and to become the de facto destination for information and traveller advice for all Indians. A majority of our marketing investments are currently in digital media from search engine marketing and optimization, use of digital display formats to showcase the HolidayIQ.com value proposition, engaging with travellers through social channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and working with key partners to extend the reach of our content which is reviews, ratings, photos and videos from Indian travellers. The future of digital content access in India is going to be through mobile and we are making some big bets in this space through our mobile-friendly site [m.HolidayIQ.com] and through a slew of both traveller and hotel-centric apps that you will see in the market very soon.

Tell us about any exciting online campaigns that you have executed for the brand?

While we do execute campaigns from time to time with the #ICantTravelWithout on Twitter being the latest one which attracted more than 3,000 tweets in less than 4 hours, we look at our involvement in various forms of digital media as on-going programs right from our Facebook engagement initiatives to how we are looking at YouTube as a platform to showcase traveller opinions and so on. Our display remarketing campaigns through Google continue to give us returns and we are always on the lookout for high-impact tactical opportunities to build buzz around the brand.

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? What are your visual brand building plans on the internet?

Let me take both the above questions together. Online video consumption in India has doubled in the last 2 years with close to 60M internet users now actively consuming video content. Till now, a majority of the brand building efforts through video have relied on porting ideas and techniques [and creatives as well] from TV to the internet through pre-rolls, video ads, etc. We believe such approaches alone don’t do full justice to the digital medium. What the digital medium offers is the ability, esp. for content businesses, to produce fantastic content at low cost, reach a large audience with low fixed investment thresholds and to be able to constantly receive feedback from consumers. And for a user-generated platform like HolidayIQ.com, the ability to involve the traveller community in creating this content makes for some very interesting possibilities.

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

Let’s understand that digital and traditional media are both just that – media to reach potential and current consumers. It’s the underlying idea behind the communication that is far more important to think through and typically the communication objective plays an important role in defining the media mix itself. Digital and traditional media both offer their own unique advantages and we constantly evaluate our media plans across tradition and digital media, both of which have finer segments. Is brand building possible on the internet – absolutely. Should an internet business stay off traditional media without objectively evaluating it – suggest not.

HolidayIQ.com has launched online hotel advertising product ‘CentreStage’. How has been its uptake?

Incredibly well! The need for such a product was first perceived in our interactions with hoteliers and we just created a product that we believed would provide them with exactly the right marketing vehicle to reach their prospective guests. CentreStage today contributes to greater than 10% of our revenues. And thanks to the constant interactions we have with hotels and travel agents, many more such products are in the pipeline.

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

As a user-generated content platform focussed on travel which is a qualitative experience, we look at social to both widen the reach of our content through use of Facebook pages/apps, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube, and also to personalize content on our site for each user through showcasing holiday opinions of his/her friends. This is done through implementation of the Facebook Open Graph and today, 20% of all the time spent by our users is in this personalized environment.

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

We work with Orchard Advertising on defining the brand architecture and core communication objectives and we work with partner agencies to ensure perfect execution specifically in the area of performance marketing where the expectation from the agency is in delivering to scale and efficiency benchmarks. Our Social Media ideation and activation is done completely in-house as is our Content Marketing initiatives.

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

I think the India online landscape is undergoing some major changes and we feel HolidayIQ.com is best poised to tap into emerging opportunities. As mentioned before, we are going to see a much higher percentage of solus mobile internet users over the next couple of years and the mobile experiences we are building for travellers will provide them with real-time holiday planning information that will help decision-making in-transit/at-destination. When we think of digital media, we look at all forms of digital communication and we will continue to make investments in areas within digital communication but not necessarily the internet as traditionally defined.

Content consumption in vernacular languages is already on the rise and is another area we are actively evaluating both from a product and from a marketing standpoint. At the end of the day, our marketing objective is simple – to be available to every Indian traveller on every access point in every language expected and provide every piece of holiday information/advice needed to make their holiday experience memorable!

With the evolution of internet and social media, people no longer have to drop notes in a ‘suggestion-box’ installed within a company’s premises hoping that his/her complaint will be addressed. Nor does a customer have to just restrict his/her immediate family and friends from using the services of a certain brand after a particularly harrowing experience. Today’s customer has discovered the power of anonymity and posting reviews about services online. And as evident from the sheer volume of data on social media platforms and platform websites, the customer has a lot to say – both negative and positive.

User generated content has evolved at a breakneck pace and brands have started taking note of it; they have realized its importance and the necessity of engaging with their customers. While some brands have adopted scare tactics by using an IT law, which at best can be described as vague, to threaten platform websites and social media platforms into taking down negative reviews, others have given a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘Silence is golden’ by totally ignoring negative reviews. Still others have publicly tried to take away the credibility of a negative reviewer with counter-attack strategies.

The trouble with addressing negative reviews is that there are too many forums to express unhappiness over a certain brand. Dissatisfied customers have the option of posting reviews on social media and platform websites, discuss them on discussion forums, post blogs etc. Infact, in our research for this feature, we came across a website dedicated to negative reviews of a popular Indian pizza chain.

The problem most brands and their customers face in India is that laws concerning internet and censorship are not very clearly defined.

“These laws have been misused in a very strange way in India. In the rest of the world, it has been mostly used to restrict sexually related content, while in India, it has been used for what might be business or political sentiments. Essentially, it is so vaguely defined that anybody can take any action on it; it is used as a political and business tool,” says Mahesh Murthy, the founder of digital brand management company Pinstorm.

The impact of negative reviews

There are no standard statistics on the extent of damage caused by negative reviews. While one research we came across claimed that 3 negative reviews can make 75% of the consumers reconsider their purchasing decision, another revealed that four out of every five people who read negative reviews about a product/service reverse their decision to buy it.

The results of these surveys, however, are enough to understand that the impact of negative reviews is huge.

Faisal Farooqui, the CEO of MouthShut.com tells us that in a figure they analyzed internally, they found out that the ratio of people who read negative reviews to those who read positive ones is 10:1.

“What we have noticed is that a negative review is usually read by 500-5000 people, while a positive review is read by just 50—500 people. In our internal analysis, we found out that even one negative review can have a lot of impact on the brand and its reputation,” he says.

Saurabh Parmar, Founder & CEO at Brandlogist Communications Consultancy says the impact of every negative review is not the same.

“Social media is a lot like the real world except it is more viral in nature. Like the real world the identity of the negative reviewer, how big an influencer he or she is, the kind of facts they back their negative reviews with to the number of people supporting the review are all factors that influence the impact of negative reviews,” he says. 

Avijit Arya, Chairman and CEO of digital agency Internet Moguls, says that the buying decision of a “prospective” customer is based on what others have said about the brand in question.

“The revolution in media came up because everything good or bad started going viral and reaching a larger audience sooner than ever before, so an adverse review surely has the power to influence,” he says.

He, however, adds that one or two negative responses don't break a brands reputation.

“Reviewers and review sites have been understood now and not a new phenomenon any more. Smarter customers realise that and mostly they look at the overall mix of reviews to make a safer decision for themselves,” he says.

Negative reviews and ‘legal’ notices

The disturbing new trend in the online world is a brand’s resolve to curb negative reviews without addressing them. Due to the provisions of the Indian laws concerning the online space, any private individual can send a legal notice to a website to take down “objectionable” content.

“In 98% of the cases, people actually took their posts down even though the law says that when you get a notice, you either take it down or you challenge it. While the receiving party should have the guts to say that no, I am not taking this down, let us meet in court, more often than not, they just take it down,” Mahesh Murthy says.

The end result is that the law has become a tool of intimidation.

“A private individual sends another private individual a take-down notice. The trouble is that not enough people are calling the bluff and asking the notice sender to come to court,” Murthy adds.

Faisal Farooqui of MouthShut says that in case of negative reviews on their site, brands first get in touch with them, requesting a take-down, then a legal notice is sent and then the threats start.

“We tell brands that if they feel a particular review is harming their reputation, they can approach a court of law and get an order against it. If a court directs us to remove a review, we would be happy to comply,” he says.

“So far, only two judges in India have given orders to remove reviews on MouthShut. Of these two, in one case, it was more like a stay-order, where we had to remove the review for a few weeks. Our premise is that review is not about defamation, damage or reputation but it is about curbing people’s right to free speech,” he adds.

Saurabh Parmar of Brandlogist terms the tactic of sending legal notices “silly”.

“The message is already out there; people have read it. On the internet just by removing a piece of history, we are not really deleting anything because the message has been ingrained in people’s minds. Rather I would encourage a transparent dialogue,” he says.

Anonymous reviews

The jury is still out on whether or not to do away with anonymous reviews. While some experts say doing away with anonymity will result in witch-hunting and harassment of negative reviewers, others argue that anonymity can be used by rival brands or fake users to damage the reputation of brands.

Avijit Arya of Internet Moguls claims that brands only have issues with reviews that might be from people might not have been customers at all.

“Maybe brands would not mind reviews from identified customers with a proof of purchase of service to maintain authenticity of the reviewer and remove beyond doubt that the review in question could be competitor driver or false in nature,” he says.

Faisal Farooqui says even though MouthShut doesn’t allow people to post anything without registering or using Facebook login, he believes that anonymous reviews should not be done away with.

“If you take away the anonymity, then there could be harassment and witch-hunting by brands. Infact, we have documentation of brands approaching customers directly threatening them to remove their reviews,” he claims.

Mahesh Murthy finds nothing wrong with anonymous comments.

“I think in the online world, you need to have a thick skin, if you don’t have it, don’t come online,” he opines.

What brands should do in case of negative reviews

Citing the example of a multi-national bank, Mahesh Murthy says that many brands don’t want to address negative reviews because they don’t want to be responsible.

“We told a multi-national bank that they should adopt reputation management to counter a significant volume of negative reviews it had garnered. They refused saying that if they start a programme to address these reviews, then they will have to be responsible and actually follow-up and monitor these and future reviews,” he says, adding, “This bank will go from bad to worse, while banks which undertakes reputation management, will receive better consumers.”

Saying that brands should immediately intervene, acknowledge, be polite and ask for the cause of a negative review, he adds that customers are not seeking perfection, they just want to see that brands are responsible and responsive.

Avijit Arya of Internet Moguls gives a three-point solution to brands to deal with negative reviews:

1. Respond in a timely manner
2. Address the concern in question
3. Thank them and assure them of corrective action

He says that while doing this, a brand satisfies not just the existing reviewer but the other 10 who might be looking at the review to make a decision. 

“Offensive negative adverse reviews and feedback has always been a part of a brands lifecycle, being online it is just bigger and can make a deeper impact. Hence, ideally these should not be taken personally and should be replied to with respect for the reviewers concern and assurance that they have been heard. Reviewers offline or online go negative mostly if the customer feels their concerns have not been heard and they then approach platforms to voice their opinions,” he says.

Saurabh Parmar of Brandlogist says that the feedback should be analyzed and the brand should engage the negative reviewer.

"Data tells us that a customer who gave a negative review & has a subsequent positive experience because of the brand's intervention has a higher chance of being a repeat customer. Brands should not be scared of criticism because at the end of the day customers will always have their perspective. The only choice a brand has is to participate in the conversation & subsequently learn & improve or remain indifferent to what their own customers or prospective customers are saying," he says.

Pravin Kulkarnii has more than 18 years experience in the domain of sales and marketing management across various leading companies like Blow Plast, Pidilite and Parle. He joined Parle Products in 1994 and is currently working as Head of Marketing. He is based out of Mumbai and is responsible for corporate strategy, business profitability, product portfolio management, strategic brand management, advertising and promotion for all the Parle brands in the country. In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Pravin talks about various initiatives Parle Products has taken in social media and blogging space for its various products. He also shares the brand's intention to explore mobile as a medium for advertising.

How crucial is the digital medium both internet and mobile in Parle Product’s plans to reach out to consumers? 

Our focus on digital media started increasing in the last three years. We appointed digital agency Digital Law and Kenneth in 2010 and decided to focus more on this medium. More than 90 per cent of our advertising budget goes in Television and print media but then we realised that there is a need for our company’s presence on digital media. Every year our presence is strengthening on this medium. However, on mobile we are not that active presently. Earlier we have done activities for the brand via bulk SMS. But, we are extensively working on the digital medium including social media. Parle Products is present on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and we also have a presence in blogging space. We are using also using online publishing platforms like Yahoo and IndiaTimes etc to promote the brand.

Parle’s heritage biscuit brand, Parle-G has an emotional connect with users. How are you popularising the biscuit brand among the youth today? 

We already have a traditional media campaign running for Parle G to attract the young generation towards the brand we have a dedicated facebook page for Parle G. The facebook presence is actively being used to connect with young consumers. We are running Genius campaign by engaging them with useful content in form of tips and information. We are also sharing nostalgic moments of Parle G on the page. We have a Futuregeneius.com website which is targeted towards parents that gives parenting advice apart from tips and information.

The company has initiated Genius and Bond with Ruskin campaigns, how has been their uptake? 

Ruskin Bond is a noted writer and extremely popular among children. We thought that bringing him on our platform will involve the kids in the campaign all the way more. So, under this campaign Ruskin Bond will be our guest blogger and he will write about his childhood experiences and things which will be interesting for young children. He will be contributing two articles every month, which will be letters to the children, talking about tales about life in the mountains, adventure, nature or simply the beauty of life.

You have also launched a micro site www.thefuturegenius.com. Tell us more about the initiative. 

The edutainment site, TheFutureGenius.com is an interactive portal where parents can interact and share videos, audio clips and documents to showcase their child’s talent. This website provides information about parenting. There is a section on the website called ‘Genius Gyaan’ in which child psychology expert Jeevan D’ Cunha writes about various articles on child parenting. We have also roped in a celebrity mother blogger, Kiran Manral and a kid blogger who will write for the brand on issues related to parenting and upbringing of children. Parents can also upload videos of their children on this platform. The videos can be of any specific talents or activities that their children are good at.

The response to the initiative has been very encouraging. There are lots of users asking questions and commenting which shows that the topics being talked about on the platform is of interest to them. The activity was very well received by the audiences in the initial phase itself. The total number of user generated content received for the campaigns till date is 436 uploads, including videos, pictures and documents. The total hits received on the site also increased to 1, 47, 773 visits. 

How is the company promoting other Parle products digitally? 

Our choco chip cookie brand, Hide and Seek also has a dedicated Facebook page in which we interact with youth. One of our candy brand called Poppins has an interesting microsite which has various games available on it. Users can play the games and also challenge their friends. We also have a microsite for KrackJack we are trying to make characters Krack and Jack  live where users can come and interact with these characters. They can leave a comment and characters will interact with users. This is an initiative we are working on.

How important is social media for a FMCG brand like yours? Has it brought any significant change in the brand equity? Most of the FMCG brands target users on television.

Most of our target customers (youth) are increasingly spending less amount of time on television. So, the youth today spends a large amount of time on digital and social media. As a brand we want to capture this audience. We are looking at creating long term engagement on digital medium by creating targeted and interesting content.

Recently, Parle Products has decided to pull out ads across all TV channels, will decision impact your digital media spends?

The digital media spends might increase. The amount for the same I’m not certain about but as a brand we are focussing on digital.

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

We promote brand strategy on digital so we scout for partners who understand our brand and its core principles and eventually reflect that on digital medium. We ask them to come out with a digital strategy which will support Parle Product’s marketing strategy. 

What are your thoughts on video advertising and gaming especially since a fair segment of your target audience are children?  

We are one of the pioneers in the gaming area. We have been using gaming as part of our advertising for almost five or six years. Earlier, we had partnered with Zapak.com to create lot of games like we did an initiative called ‘Super Gamer’ for promoting Parle G.We also did our branding in Shahrukh Khan starrer ‘Ra.One’ we created Ra.One game and the entire branding was done by Parle G. The game witnessed 10 million downloads in a day. So, users have to win the game and get reward points to buy ‘energy’ so that’s how we incorporated our brands presence in the game. 

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?

Mobile medium presently needs a lot of awareness creation in terms of what it can do as a potential communication and advertising tool. The bigger problem is that people still don’t know how to effectively use this medium. The market needs to be properly guided and players need to come up with innovative solutions for this platform. A lot can be done in terms on mobile ads, gaming, loyalty programs etc. It is going to happen there are good mobile advertising agencies that are coming in the space offering effective mobile advertising solutions. Awareness on how to use mobile medium effectively will increase. There are categories like automobiles and telecom which are using mobile media effectively. 

How do you see Parle Products’ digital spends moving this year - in terms of growth and focus?

Yes, definitely we are going to put a major thrust on digital media for majority of our brands. We are integrating digital in our marketing strategy apart from exploring opportunities in the mobile medium. Currently, our mobile usage is not so much. The digital spend of Parle Products stands at 2 per cent but may go up to 4 to 5 per cent in the future.

Ankur Warikoo, CEO of daily deals portal Groupon India has recently been promoted as head of Groupon APAC Emerging Markets (APAC-EM). He is now entrusted with additional responsibilities dealing with growth in the key emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region including India, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Ankur talks about his new priorities, growth drivers of the company and new initiatives being implemented in India.

What are your immediate priorities as Head of Groupon's APAC Emerging Markets?

The immediate priority would be to go and visit all the four countries and spend time with them. These countries, that have been kept under a different region called ‘Emerging Markets’, have been identified as the next region of growth for Groupon. They hold great potential in terms of sheer size there is about 245 million internet users currently in these four countries and they are expected to go up to 400 million by 2015. Ecommerce, as a concept, is new in these regions. Groupon is under penetrated in some of these countries and has dominant market share in some of them. The idea is to make sure that we are doing everything possible to ensure that growth in these countries is phenomenal.

What will be the growth drivers in emerging markets?

There is going to be a lot more focus on penetrating the market from market share perspective, increasing the brand visibility and working with the best merchants. In these markets, where Groupon is not the top of the mind recall brand the execution often becomes harder. We plan to work on this aspect as well.

How is Groupon’s APAC business doing? What percentage does it adds to the company’s global business?

We do not disclose the numbers but yes it is not one of the biggest contributors. We are working on it.

Tell us more about any new initiatives that Groupon is planning in India.

We are experimenting with new types of deals. So, the fundamental of Groupon remains food and beverage, wellness, travel and products but we are looking at introducing new categories. We, definitely, do not foresee them becoming business verticals but they provide a good flavour to customers. For instance, we are exploring FMCG industry in a big way specifically their sampling exercises. These companies spend awful lot of money on sampling but it might not have that level of scale and reach. So, if a company sets up a canopy in a mall promoting a product it can reach a very limited number of customers. But, if the same company runs a deal on Groupon where free sample can be delivered to customers’ doorsteps then it will have a high level of impact and reach in a short time period.

Second, we are also trying to work something in the ‘Real Estate’ space which is latest in category and is a massive space in India. So, for example we have asked users to pay a small token of money to buy a real estate deal as expression of interest and if the user ends up buying the property, he/she gets a certain amount of discount otherwise the money paid upfront is refunded. For customers it is an absolute no risk deals while for real estate companies it is a means of generating qualified leads.

Third is we tried running deals on automobiles, like real estate leads, generating  qualified test drive leads is a challenge for this industry. We ran a deal for Tata Nano where users had to just fill in a test drive form via Groupon platform and pay no amount of money. As a part of the deal, it was announced that amongst the test drivers four customers will get highest version of Tata Nano.  This deal generated 10, 500 test drives in one day which the brand has not even got through a TV commercial.

In the travel section, we are going after the ‘Getaways’ section which is destinations within six hours of any big city. We are completely mapping it out and our target would be working professionals who are looking to take a break for 2-3 days without prior planning.

We are looking at strategic partnerships with people where we can add value to a particular segment. The recent one is with multi retail outlet, Croma. So, far Groupon India was not focusing on electronics as a segment because it has very small margins, is extremely competitive and price sensitive. But, we felt it is a massive market we must have a presence here so we partnered with India’s largest offline retail outlet for electronics, Croma who understand the space very well.  It’s been a less than a month since we have launched the segment and it is garnering impressive traction.

Any new initiatives coming on the mobile medium?

We have recently launched iOS app and three per cent of our business is coming through this app. Considering the fact that iOS is not the dominant platform in India this number is encouraging. 18 per cent of our website traffic is coming through mobile devices and about 9 per cent of our transactions are coming through mobile. To further tap this market, we will be launching our Android app in about one month.

We have already launched mobile enabled website on June 18, 2013. Mobile is a big focus for Groupon as it connects the impulse buying and the local flavor. If we go by statistics, in US almost 30 per cent of our business is coming from mobile. In Indonesia, 25 per cent of the business is coming from the hand held device so I do not think of any reason why that success cannot be replicated in India.

What would be your business targets for 2013?

Growth is a fundamental factor in Groupon. Being a young and massive country, we are growing very well.

Amit Kohli, MD and Co-Founder, FoodPanda.in comes with a decade long experience having served diversified roles at McKinsey & Co. He aims to further build the national and international presence of FoodPanda and its services to help people find exactly what they want to eat and order it online. 

Rohit Chadda is MD India and Product Head, Asia of FoodPanda. He manages overall country operations for FoodPanda India apart from optimising operations and increasing customer reach through offline marketing channels. He has an investment banking background having worked with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London, Hong Kong as well as Mumbai.

Tell us about the whole foodpanda experience operating in India.

Amit - It’s been quite interesting! (smiles) We started in May last year and it’s been a topsy-turvy but an interesting ride. We set out to create a pan India level food ordering portal. At that point in time, there were city specific players who have done this on a smaller scale but we wanted to take this experience across country. Over one year, FoodPanda has become the largest player in this space in terms of geographical presence, website traffic, user base and brand association.

But it has also come with its own set of challenges like people and restaurants were not aware of this concept of online food ordering portal. So, we have put in a lot of effort to help overcome the initial inertia that partners had associating with us. Then, also educating consumers that there is a safe way of ordering food online as well.  Historically, all restaurants have offline modes of promotion even a brand like Dominos used to do their promotion through flyers couple of years back. We are trying to change both industry and consumer behaviour and making it more digital friendly.

How did you educate the consumers?

Amit - We have figured out that there are people who are searching for food online but they do not find enough options for ordering. Therefore, our main focus was to ensure FoodPanda’s presence whenever a customer was searching for food. We made our presence through channels like Google search, social media, promotional emails and even through SMS.

Our intent was to ensure that instead of picking up a phone for ordering customers should be made to order food online.  Also, lot of smartphone users can directly order food from our apps and we have seen a good traction of orders coming from the mobile platform.

What is the ratio of traffic and orders that you get from web and mobile?

Amit - We launched the mobile app two months back and 15 per cent of our orders are coming from this medium.

What potential do you see in India as a market?

Rohit – India is an extremely big market but it is still at a nascent stage both in terms of online commerce and food & beverage industry. F&B industry, in the country, is pretty fragmented with 90 per cent of stores being single in nature and not chains. But the food delivering market is growing at much faster pace than the F&B industry itself.  So, the organized F&B space is growing at 25 per cent while the food delivery market is growing at 40 per cent. The food delivery market stood at Rs 1000 cr in 2012 which is expected to grow around Rs 5000 cr by 2017. The Indian consumer is also maturing as he orders food 1.2 times in a month but it is far cry from developed markets like Singapore where people order 30 times a month. So, there is a clear opportunity of growth if Indian consumer starts ordering more frequently.

Which Indian cities are driving FoodPanda’s website traffic?

Amit - I think it is in line with the ecommerce portals so bulk of our users and transactions are coming from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. But then we are increasingly getting response from comparatively underpenetrated cities like Pune, Chandigarh and Hyderabad. 

So, we are hopeful that Pune and Hyderabad will soon come in the first bracket of cities with growing IT and corporate population.

Then, there are cities which we believe have great potential like Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. We will be entering these cities in another three months. These cities have decent internet penetration, middle income group and professionals which can be our prospective customers.

Internet penetration in India still stands at around 11 per cent leaving a large user base untouched. How do you plan to reach to that base?

Amit – The encouraging development has been adoption of mobile internet by a large number of people. A lot of people from smaller towns now own Android handsets and are accessing internet the next step for them would be to make a transaction online. The other reason for low internet penetration in India was also the hardware cost in terms of desktops and laptops which was not affordable. But companies like Micromax manufacturing low cost smartphones have been a game changer. This mobile first user base will drive the growth of ecommerce in the country. In fact, telecom companies have also helped in propelling this growth with smart pricing of plans (Read how Vodafone, Airtel, Tata Docomo have slashed their 2G and 3G prices recently).

Rohit – I guess this is where Android become a really crucial platform because it is pocket friendly than ios and Blackberry. So, one can buy an Android phone in 4-5k that is precisely why we concentrated on rolling out our Android app first.

Clearly, mobile emerged as one of the main focus for FoodPanda. What investment will you be making in the medium?

Amit – Our biggest focus will remain driving growth through mobile apps.  We have seen good traction on this medium and we will continue to push our efforts in this area. We have around 60, 000 app downloads in last two months. As I mentioned earlier, 15% of our transactions are already coming from mobile.

Rohit – Adding to that, in the last 30 days, we have seen 20, 000 app downloads.

Overall, how many orders do you clock in a month?

Amit - Since, we are funded by private investors, we will not be able to disclose the order numbers. In terms of traffic we get 25-30k visitors a day. 60 to 70 per cent of this traffic comes from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

How many repeat customers are you getting?

Amit - In this business, repeat is very strong. Our biggest focus has been on how to differentiate ourselves on operations and order processing in compare to other players existing in the market. We have seen that a satisfied customer whose food reaches him/her in 30-40 minutes is bound to order again using our platform. 

Typically, on a daily basis around 50-60 per cent of our orders are from repeat customers.

Therefore, we push ourselves to provide a bouquet of products and expanding our merchant partnerships giving lot many options to customers.

How many partner restaurants do you currently have?

Amit - We have about 2000 odd restaurant partners.

FoodPanda has recently raised $ 20 million funding, how are you utilizing it?

Amit - A bulk of the funds will go in the expansion plans to other cities. Secondly, we would be spending more on marketing efforts. Thirdly, we would be making the connectivity with partner restaurants more technology effective, remove human interventions to best extent possible.

How do you ensure removing human interventions?

Amit - Once a user makes an order online it goes straight as a SMS and email to the vendor.  We have also installed GPRS printers at the restaurants so the moment orders comes a print out comes out instantly.

Rohit – We also have an app for vendors which instantly update them about the order.

What are the parameters on which you decide the next city of expansion?

Amit – There are three broad parameters – one is demographic (population and portability etc), internet penetration and cities which are transacting on other ecommerce portals.

Who do you see as your competition?

Amit – Housewives! (Laughs) Competition depends on how evolve the market is which in our case is still growing. Other players in the space are only growing this market instead of taking away each other’s share.

Rohit – Our real competition are housewives and dining in and people ordering on phone. So, the real challenge is to convert these three groups into online ordering customers. There is no national level player who has made an impact in this market. 

Do you also offer coupons or reward points to customers?

Amit - We are in the process of partnering with a reward based system for regular customers.  We also get our partner restaurants to give attractive discounts to FoodPanda customers. During IPL matches we tie-up with Nirulas which was offering 50 per cent discount on orders between 3 pm to 7 pm which received great response. 

Rohit – Basically, there is a loyalty programme that we are putting in place for people who are regular on FoodPanda.

In the West there is a certain service tax levied on online food delivery, what is the status here?

Amit – We keep it free for customers. In West, even the delivery is not free but in India since customers are used to free delivery so we keep it that way.

Rohit – I do not see us doing that. Since we are competing with the phone ordering system which does not charges extra we have to give more propositions to the customer in order to convert him/her to online ordering customer.

 

Anupam Vasudev, Chief Marketing Officer, Aircel Limited, is a an established marketing veteran with 22 years of extensive work experience in sales, marketing, communications, branding and research. In his current profile, he leads verticals like sales management, product development, distribution channel management, marketing communications (including advertising and promotions), pricing, market research, and customer service. Prior to joining Aircel, Vasudev served as Executive Vice-president, Marketing & Communications of Star India Pvt. Ltd. At Star India, he spearheaded the core marketing strategy and process. He has also served as Regional Marketing Director of Asia region for over half-a-decade at SC Johnson Consumer Products’ US office. He also had a successful stint with Hindustan Lever in various sales and marketing functions for over a decade. A St. Stephens and Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi University alumni, Vasudev enjoys watching movies, listening to music, reading and traveling with family.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Anupam talks about Aircel's digital strategies, its efforts on mobile medium and social media space.

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

Aircel is a young brand with a focus on data and youth. Therefore, it becomes necessary for us to reach out to the digital platform on which our key target audience frequent and create deeper engagement. Moreover, these days a mobile is the first screen for youth and their first experience of internet is on this hand held device. At Aircel, we intend to capture this audience. 

We have also made social media a common thread across all aspects of business - be it listening to customers, customer service, marketing or product innovation. We have close to 4.3 million fans on Facebook and around 21 thousand followers on twitter. 

We have started to successfully delight the youth, drive conversations around Aircel, and effectively track consumers’ needs and feedback and are confident that we will keep this momentum going. We believe that digital media will only complement our traditional media presence and enhance our reach to our target segment. 

Aircel has been launching digital campaigns for its various data plans and offers and also company’s CSR initiative, ‘Save the Tiger’ campaign. Which according to you have been some of the most exciting and successful online campaigns that the company has initiated so far? 

At Aircel, we emphasise a lot on our digital media strategy and have launched various successful campaigns for our products and services in the recent past. For this year’s IPL we launched a bloggers contest – Aircel All Access. We created content on IPL 2013 and gave people a chance to be the official blogger for Chennai Super Kings, travel with them, get up, close and personal and finally write about the experiences in a real time basis. The response to Aircel All Access has been amazing and we have been able to garner a high PTA (People Talking About) score of 9.5 along with 16k+ twitter mentions.

In addition to our social media reach, we also tied-up with Yebhi.com, in a first of its kind association, to provide talktime to Aircel subscribers shopping on the portal. Besides, we have a dedicated youtube channel where you will find content like Aircel ad films and videos that have not been advertised using television such as our Dhoni films. And this year, we have started engaging with bloggers through our bloggers’ meet #AircelBlogUp. We have had its successful editions in Delhi and Chennai; in fact #AircelBlogUp Delhi edition trended for three days in India. We hope to take this event to many more cities. 

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

The brief given to our agencies and digital media partners is simple. Through the use of internet, we wish to engage with the audience and create love for brand Aircel. In addition, the focus should be on upselling innovative products and services and motivate customers to adopt transaction on digital platforms. Finally, it is important to keep it alive and exciting in order to enable customer interact with the brand. 

As a youth and data focused brand, we have worked together with our agencies over a period of time to achieve different objectives starting from raising awareness, to extending reach, to creating a buzz around the brand and finally generating meaningful conversations and engaging with our target audience. What is needed at this time is constant inflow of creative ideas and a strategy that is cohesive across all media channels. 

How has been the uptake of Aircel’s online recharge platform? How many users recharge online?

Youth today spends a lot of their time on both the internet as well mobile phones. Therefore, online recharge platforms have been performing well for Aircel and the numbers keep growing for us. Understanding this need on people wanting to recharge their phones online, we have recently launched the first of its kind ‘Recharge Store on Facebook’. The recharge app will allow Aircel prepaid customers to recharge their number on the Facebook fanpage itself. In addition, the recharges can be done through our Aircel websites, certain bank websites, and a dedicated mobile app called Pocket Payment etc. 

Aircel has a strong presence on Facebook with 4.5 mn fans and 20k followers on Twitter. How crucial is it for a brand like Aircel to have social media presence?

Youth and young adults are adopting internet at a very fast pace today and social networking is among the top two activities done on the web which makes it important for us to engage in that space. Our presence on twitter and facebook is quite strong and we are constantly thinking of ways to increase these numbers. We are confident that through our effective social media strategy, we can experience greater brand affinity, one on one communication, greater return on marketing investment, more customer lifecycle moments of value and address grievances in an effective manner.

How strong is Aircel’s mobile footprint in terms of mobile advertising and apps you have launched?

While we are into mobile advertising and have been steadily increasing our focus on this space, we are already offering a lot to our customers in terms of apps. We were one of the first telecom players in India to launch app store called ‘Pocket Apps’ and since then we have been expanding our portfolio. We offer a range of apps to our customers ranging from mobile recharge app- ‘Pocket Payment’, mobile TV app- ‘Popkorn TV’, from offering the regular apps for games, utilities, imagery etc. We will continue to increase the range. 

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?

Our share of marketing budget has been growing year on year on mobile ad space and at Aircel; we take this medium very seriously. Today, in the telecom space we are among the top spenders of ATL budget on mobile. Though in absolute terms TV as a medium takes the lead due to higher reach and addressability, however, digital plays a key role in enhancing experience of a brand. 

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

Aircel is a young brand with a focus on data and youth. Therefore, it becomes necessary for us to reach out to the digital platform. Our digital spends and focus on this space has increased considerably and we will continue doing the same. 

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

There is a huge potential that we see in this space, not just in social media but in digital and online media as a whole. Our digital media strategy is already aligned to our marketing objectives, going forward, we see ourselves keeping up with the latest trends and opportunities and adapting to engage with our customers effectively.