Mobile - the new kid on the block is taking over the media megaliths!!

Of Course! TV and Print have a long life ahead. but, Mobile as a media is rapidly making a place for itself.

 

One could have an unending debate on the above statement, as opinion today is very divided on the issue. Print in India has been around for over a century and is still growing. The advent of TV about 30 years ago started a debate on similar lines but even today both coexist and both are still growing. When Internet began its journey, again the market was abuzz with its omnipotent nature and how it would end the dominance of TV and Print. Its been about 20 years since but the balance of power has still not changed. Mobiles too, set foot in India about a decade ago and while their numbers have surpassed every other media, their role as a media has been marginal.

 

Yes, the above is true if one looks at the matter at a macro level ie at the All India level. However, if one were to look at specifc markets and segments the story is very different.  

 

Affluent Youth in Metros are a very attractive segment for media and marketers. This is a very small segment which constitutes not more than 5% of the population but is a very significant segment since consumers in this segment are very high on consumption of paid products and services, have voracious media consumption and are early adopters, influencers and change agents in society. This is an aspirational segment and a vast majority in India looks up to emulate their lifestyle. Their current media behaviour is a very good view of what the vast majority would be like in the near future.

 

Without delving too much into the numbers, lets just paint a picture of their relationship with various  media. A Smartphone or a Tablet is the primary media device in their life. They are connected 24x7 to the internet through this universal media device (UMD).

 

Yes, they read newspapers but, not the print editions. They access their favourite news brands either through their websites or news-apps installed on their smartphones. Of course! this is only when they have not already been updated through their social networks. They have special apps dedicated to each of their key interests that mash information from multiple sources and provide it in an easy snacking format that this segment is preferential to. Holding a newspaper every morning to start their day is really not a behaviour that they are habituated to and getting to read a paper edition is just incidental and not at all necessary.

 

Televsion still forms a significant part of their daily life. but, they are not unaccostomed to reaching out on their phone for their favourite content via youtube and various other mobile tv applications that are getting created everyday. Regulation of TV content and the limiting quality of display on a mobile (small size) are a barrier to them taking on to TV in a big way. However, it is just a matter of time before most of their TV viewing too shall be through their smartphones which are fast evolving into high quality multi-media devices.

 

Movies, music, socializing, information gathering, window shopping, actual shopping.. all are done via their smartphones. They value the content of the media houses across Radio, Cinema, TV & Print but interact with all the content only through their mobile phone or tablet.

 

Media companies have also seen all this but are at different stages of acceptance of this imminent reality. Their responses vary from a state of absolute denial to some who are very rapidly evolving their content and formats to suit mobile consumption.

 

Of course! the traditiional TV and Print are still the  mainstay for them from todays revenue perspective but, the situation will be very different in the near future. Mobile phones will constitue a dominant portion of their content consumption. Media brands that do not evolve will be relegated to the stone age.

 

Amongst all cell phone owners in India, smartphone ownership is less than 5% today. Imagine the situation when this ownership moves to double digit figures...

 

Mobile, is the most recent media. It is the new kid on the block. But, it is the medium which is growing at the fastest rate. And, with its growth it is phasing out other physical formats of media driving a convergence of all other media into its small screen.

 

If this scenario is too optimmistic for mobiles, let us look at a diametrically opposite segment such as the rural consumers.

 

Rural India still has a large population which is described as 'media dark' as they have extrmely low access to mass media. However, mobiles are reaching them at a faster rate everyday. In the absence of other media and various other infrastructure, this mobile is taking on a very central role in their lives. It is fast becoming their only mode of communication, information gathering and transacting. It is not long before cell phones in rural India too become their primary media devices.

 

No matter which way you take a peek at the future, the mobile is taking centrestage. Acceptance of the change is the first step for survival in the future. Media Houses, need to prepare for this future. Advertising and Communication have to upgrade their tools, techniques and philosophy to address a mobile-empowered consumer.

 

For the non-believers, I want to share this video which I saw in 2006. To many, at that time, it seemed a fantasy that would never become reality. See the video now and ponder on how much of that has already come true in the past 7 years.

 

 

The evolution and the impact of mobile on our lives and on the media business is going to be even more rapid and even more intense.

 

Yes, the mobile is taking over the media monoliths.

Client gets the work it deserves.

Media Agencies started as back-end print releasing departments of creative agencies many many years ago. The task of media releases was a menial task that the then industry leaders granted only 2.5% commission of the 15% that was available for the creative agencies.

As the media landscape has become more and more complex, the media agencies have risen to the challenge. Since then, the media agencies have evolved - upgraded their toolkit, added skill sets, increased the scope of services they can deliver and have come up as a formidable component of the advertising and communication industry.

 

Yes, the media agency still does media releases but a media release is just the tail end of all the valuable functions that a media agency performs.

 

No other entity has a better understanding of the media landscape of India. The largest media research agencies, the eminent consultancies, the rate-focused auditors, the tv-skewed creative agencies and the self-biased media houses - all barely skim the surface in understanding the media consumption patterns of today's consumer. A media agency is capable of a very clinical analysis of what media the consumer consumes and which touhpoints are best suited for brand communication.

 

Media Strategists today, are armed with databases and tools superior to what any other communication industry entity can either afford or has the commitment to develop. These tools enable media agencies to diagnose brand & consumer relationships and setup media tasks with great precision.

 

It is no longer about a TV or a Print Schedule but the design of the overall architechture of how the multiple media touchpoints included in a brand campaign are programmed to interact and influence the minds of consumers. Creativity is no longer the domain only of develpoing ad-creatives and is inherent in the methods by which media agencies design these media solutions for brand campaigns.

 

Overall, media agencies have skill sets and tools that are a fusion of consumer understanding, category & brand diagnosis, media understanding, creative solution design - all culminating into the function of preparing media-wise schedules (media plans), optimizing these plans to deliver cost-efficiency, releasing and monitoring each component of a brand campaign.

 

So much is available for a client when it signs on a media agency as an AOR. But, what a client is able to extract from the agency is directly related to the strength of their belief in what a media agency can/ should deliver; the focus of the senior management on working with the media agency as a partner; and an understanding of the overall deliverables that a media agency is capable of.

 

The media agencies have evolved over the past decade and are ready to deliver total communication solutions. The Client needs to review what he/ she is getting out of the media agency today and work towards getting more..getting more beyond implmentation planning & buying.

 

Ultimately, the Client will get what it demands (deserves).

The Future: Inevitably Digital

I remember the days when I was a young entrant into the world of media (actually, media research to be specific) as I joined MRUC (Media Research Users Council). Somewhere around that time internet was included as a medium to be measured, into the Indian Readership Survey.

Internet used to be measured at two levels - aware about internet and frequency of usage of internet. While, usage of internet appeared to be a mere blip, there was a fair amount of awareness.

Actually, a funny incident had the researchers very perplexed. In a few small markets, the internet awareness showed levels 3 - 4 times those in any other market. Thanks to the robust back-check system followed by the IRS  - it was soon discovered that the high level of awareness was not of the interNET but of MosquitoNET - a simple mix-up about the NET.

India has certainly come along way since then. Its been about little over a decade since then.

We have all seen the rise in adoption of the internet which started getting adopted as a business application for emails, then soon evolved. Surfing to Search to Webmail to Games to Creating Websites to Blogs to Shopping to Banking to Ticketing to Networking to Socializing..... It now touches almost every part of our lives. In fact, now it is not confined to the computer screen but stays with us through our mobiles all day long.

However, the sceptics are still very adamant that in India internet is still a niche phenomenon and it will not affect the mass of India for many more years to come.  

Yes, the penetration levels of internet are not as high compared to those of television or newspapers today but with the rate at which the penetration of mobiles is increasing, it is just a matter of time..  a matter of very little time that it will surpass the reach of every other media. Just as we 24x7 access to electricity, so we shall have for internet. As products, services and governance starts utilizing the internet its advent as a mass application is inevitable.  

The sooner we believe this future and evolve our structure, methods and practices to address this fundamental change - the easier our future success shall be.

"If you dont give Digital a chance today; Digital wont give you a chance in the future"

Share-of-Voice to Share-of-Voices

Traditional brand advertising has often taken recourse to strengthening the Share of Voice (SOV) of the brand in the category. Let us delve deeper into this concept here, in the context of TV advertising as an example.

So, if there are 10 brands in a category and if a certain brand advertising is seen the most then that brand is said to have the highest share of voice. Of course! there are very clear formulae based on the extensive TAM data (in case of TV) that allows one to estimate the share of voice of each brand. An estimation of GRP is essential to arrive at the SOV estimate.

Various research studies over the past have clearly established a relationship between the share of voice and Market Share and the SOV:SOM method of advertising planning is extensively adopted. In the absence of Share of Voice data; the Share of Expenditure (SOE) data too is often used for similar purpose.

Let us understand "Share of Voice" and its context a bit more.

• Traditional advertising mainly had only the brands talking about themselves and hence the sources of "voice" were limited. So, in this case we may say that since there were 10 brands - there were 10  primary sources of  Voice.
• The voice is alien or distant for every consumer. so, there was no effort to measure the "influencing power" of the voice.
• So "Share of Voice" is a "volume measure" ie it just measures the amount of advertising. So, in a volume measure the nature or the strength of the voice is not reflected.
• However, it is not a "supply measure" as "secondage of advertising" but is a "consumer side measure" since, it depicts the "amount of advertising seen". Note, that purposely I have not called it a "demand side measure" since there really is no demand for advertising - it is often thrust upon consumers. Anyways, here let us not get into whether the advertising is really wanted or seen, given the high extent of ad-avoidance behaviour which is rampant.  
• The metric of voice in each media is different and hence complex statistical techniques are required to aggregate share of voice across different media. For those who know GRP would be aware how mysterious GRPs are and how erroneous can it be to aggregate GRPs across media. 

But, the media landscape has evolved so much since the time the science of SOV:SOM based planning was scripted. The emergence of social media has started diluting the control of the brands over their advertising. The changes that have been seen are certainly here to stay and will only get more acute with the accelerated growth of digital media in the country. In such a scenario, we need to look at the principles of Share of Voice - afresh.

• If there are 10 brands in the category today, are their only 10 sources of brand messages. NO. The number of sources of brand messages today are innumerable. Hence,. there are a multitude of voices.
• Each consumer has a unique relationship with at least one of these innumerable voices and hence each voice has a definitive "influencing power" over another consumer.
• Hence, it is not the volume of voice but the number of voices which is more important.
• With the transfer of power moving from the transmitter of messages to the reciever - an exposure to a message is subject to desire and demand by the consumer. Hence, the measure of number of voices seen/ heard can be termed as a "demand side measure"
• Number of voices is a count measure and is additive across media formats - though yes, given the unique influencing power of each voice we would still need recourse to complex statistical methods to arrive at a relationship between these different voices and brand success.

Yes, I admit my thoughts are still evolving on this subject and many arguments are possible on what will happen next. However, one thing is certain that "Share of Voice' based planning as it exists today has to re-invent itself and maybe change itself to "Share of Voices" based planning.

In effect, the media plans should not be targeted to generate the highest "Share of Voice" but rather structured to activate more and more consumers to raise their voice for the brand to maximize the "Share of Voices" for the brand.

Shouting by yourself is easy but getting others to canvass for you requires winning their love and respect. That is the real challenge that the brands have to confront. If a brand wins my heart - I will always raise my voice for it.

Redo the organization - Social Media is here!

"Social Media" is probably the latest buzz word in use in media and communication planning groups. It has been awarded the status of the "messiah" of the advertising world that has the answer to most advertising and communication problems. The most popular reason for the rise to fame of this media is supposed to be that it is 'almost free' :-).

I was recently reading an article in Ad-Age Digital by Judy Shapiro, a brand strategist who very clearly  describes what all comprises of Social Media and how it is different from the other approaches. Reading this triggered a chain of thoughts on what exactly does it need for an organization to be adept at Social Media.

Traditionally, organizations are tuned to the one-to-many model of brand communication. Traditionally, these organizations have a set of people who are supposed to be experts at deciphering what the organization needs to say about its brand; to a set of people who are again decided by this elite group to be the "target group" and they are also the experts at designing (or at least of leading the process of design) and disseminating this message in a planned manner. I may be blamed for being over-skeptical but largely organizations just have a marketing and a marketing and communication department and many have failed to transform themselves into marketing - oriented organizations.

In the realm of Social Media, we are talking of many-to-many messaging - a phenomenon that is new to every organization at the scale that it is happening now facilitated by technology.

Social Media Marketing is not just about using the 'vanguards of social media' such as facebook and twitter and listening to conversations, hijacking opinions, interjecting brand ideas or about getting people to talk about their brands - I believe it is far more profound.

The thought starts at realizing who really owns the Brand. Traditionally, it is the organization and some department within who are the brand owners or custodians. However, the way in which social media has exploded - the control of a brand is moving from the company to the consumers. The company is tending towards a role of a 'facilitator' who provides means to the 'consumers' to 'manage the brand'.

The Brand is a 'Social' being. The brand lives among the consumers; they interact with the brand regularly and talk about it and it is their 'talk' that creates the brand personality. The consumers have relationships with the brand and no company can come and start tinkering with their brand. An organization that instills this into its management and organizes its structure and process to thus facilitate the cultivation of this Social Brand is truly a social media oriented organization.

The most fundamental change required in communication is for the brand to stop looking at itself in the mirror singing praises of itself but instead to start looking out of the window into the world of the consumers to discuss and participate in issues that are central to their lives. Mind you, I am not talking merely about a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) campaign here but a total re-do of the organization.

Power is flowing into the hands of the consumers more and more everyday and brands that realize and appreciate the change will continue their journey into the next era and the rest one day will be sucked into their mirrors to fade away from the world of the future.

The Myth of Digital Media!!

All Digital Media seller are going all over town claiming how accountable digital media is and hence it deserves advertising as against the irresponsible traditional media of print and tv. The claim of being accountable arises from their ability to sell clicks and leads and the low cost at which they can deliver these.

In search for these clicks and leads there is an utter disregard for any 'brand building' in the media. There are a few points that the custodians of digital media must consider as they grow into their future which I do not doubt at all. Digital is certainly the future.

1. When a consumer clicks on a digital advertisiement (brought to it via search or whatever) - the consumer decision to click on the said brand ad is a result of a history of ad-stock or brand-image being built in the mind of the consumer. The digital ad is just the point at which this brand-imagei n the mind converts into an action of a click. Converting the ad-stock to the click is certainly to the credit of the digital media but then the digital sellers shoudl realize that there was possibly a lot of traditional media that made it possible for them. And, brand custodians should also understand this when they do the cost-benefit analysis and not give the benefit of generating the click just to the digital media and for the future dilute the use of other media.

2. In the early phase of the digital media when there are not enough brands seeking those clicks; today it is fairly easy and cheap for the digital media to deliver the clicks and leads to brands. But, as the traffic of brands and hence the demand for clicks increases the digital medium will hv to send much more to obtain those clicks and then it wont be so cheap and effective an alternative to the other media options.

3. When the said demand for clicks builds up, the digital media providers will have to work towards building engagement with brands and will be confronted with the same issues of building brand connect and brand imagery that are issues for todays traditional media. The sooner digital media providers realize this and start building these capabilities the sooner will the media mature as a brand communication platform.

4. The media has its strengths of providing interactivity and actionability and should build capabilities around that.

5. Just because certain actions of the media are measureable that should not be confused with accountability. The quality and veracity of the clicks and leads have always been under doubt and it will only become tougher for the media. There is a lot of work that the media can do in developing systems that track accountability and those who develop these first wll be the leaders for the future.

There is a great future for digital media but its their responsibiilty to safeguard its future. And, disparaging the achievemnents of other media is not gong to help too much. Concentrate on their own strenthgs and ave a great future.

Cheers!