1. Tell us about your background and journey.
I started my journey as a Consultant in the IT space but given my educational background in Marketing, I kept getting drawn to it and started studying the future trends for marketing to make the inevitable switch.
The more I read about the global marketing landscape, the more it became clear that the future was digital. Then, the rigor began to make the transition from a cushy consulting life to a fast-paced life in the digital marketing space.
Despite 10 odd years in the field, I constantly feel that tomorrow holds a new challenge… a new opportunity in Digital Marketing
2. What has changed about marketing in the last decade and what will be the future according to you?
Winston Churchill once said, “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often”.
This statement couldn’t be more true for the marketing landscape (especially in India) as drastic changes in the ecosystem have kept marketers on their toes.
Marketing has shifted from “spray and pray” and “intuitive” solutions to “hyper-personalized, data-driven” decision-making and solutions. Measurement is a key enabler for the same.
The rise of Digital Marketing, a plethora of Data to create formidable customer-centric solutions, Personalization, 2-way communication between brands and customers, the growth of Influencer led marketing, and a significant increase in the adoption of Digital Media, Content Marketing, Marketing Automation & Data Analytics are some of the tectonic shifts in the landscape
My current personal favorite is the marketing possibilities that lie with AI. I feel we have just scratched the surface and in the coming times, solutions is bound to get stronger.
3. How do you gauge recall of your creative ads or in-stadium displays and activities? More importantly, how do you assess whether your brand was correctly linked to your ads and activities?
Extensive assessment activities happen prior to the launch of a large-scale film, it is important that the key takeaways of the film are not just in the head of the marketer but also the end consumer.
Surveys, Brand association studies, Social Media Chatter & Sentiment Analysis, etc. are some of the ways one can understand how creatives have performed.
Couponing / Offer codes specific to that medium can help assess sales impact as well.
I am a firm believer that a brand should build as much correlation as possible between the place of advertisement & brand communication for a highly synergistic campaign. Case: Cred, a brand that has nothing to do with cricket, brilliantly used the powerplay overs as a time for the highest cashback on credit card bill payments.
Any activity done should have a strong measurement construct for learning, good or bad.
4. How do you measure if your brand perceptions and imagery were enhanced during the IPL and how much of it was due to the various IPL activities that you conducted?
IPL is highly overrated according to me. It has its limited use cases and more often than not, it is nothing but an ego-massaging exercise.
Brand perception / Imagery / Sales Uplift, to truly measure the impact of monies spent, why not assess it against a different high reach / free media plan or sales promotion plan, i.e. use the same amount of money for another activity.
People are willing to spend big monies on this property without realizing that the SOV coming out of it is minuscule.
IPL is not at all a sustainable and viable option for small advertisers, companies with deep pockets can still create a value proposition out of it if their marketing principles are sound.
5. Which is your favorite book and why?
I am a voracious reader and keep dabbling between fiction and non-fiction, with a slight preference for the former.
My all-time favorite is George Orwell’s Animal Farm. It is a book that I have read quite a few times. While it is a quick and easy read, there is always some new philosophy I internalize whilst reading. It is a book that goes beyond a surface narrative, engaging with readers on a deeper level.
Murakami and Kafka are other authors that I enjoy besides Orwell.
6. What is your greatest life lesson so far and a piece of advice that you would like to share with future marketers?
My greatest life lesson so far is that one should ensure that while working towards glory and greatness in the future, the present should not be ignored.
Time can’t be invented and one should use it judiciously.
From a work perspective, there are no set rules in marketing (except in the head), what works for one, may/may not work for another. Keep re-inventing, and finding innovative solutions. Even if there are failures, the learnings from them will only make one a strong marketer.
Do. Measure. Adapt. Do. Measure. Adapt. Do…
Interviewed By - Rakhi Sharma
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