Adgully Exclusive | Shubhodip Pal, Blyk: Relevant mobile media content is important

Speaking exclusively to Adgully, Shubhodip Pal, Country Manager - BLYK India explains the importance of having relevance around your information and content.

"Through Blyk, we believe in providing relevant mobile media containing relevant information, messages, offers and entertainment from brands, music artists, sports and entertainment companies. The campaigns are relevant and the service is based on consent from the consumer while at the same time, trust of our member is the most important thing for Blyk and we would not compromise on that at any cost," Pal explained in detail.

He further added on, "With more than 650 million mobile devices in India and majority of users being youth, the advertising market, whilst both creative and dynamic, is also cluttered so we believe youth brands will are looking for a highly engaging communication channel which can have real measurable impact on their campaigns. The mobile marketing & advertising market in India is still at a nascent stage but maturing at a very fast pace."

Blyk offers a mobile messaging media that works with operators to link young people with brands and other stuff they like. In September 2007, Blyk launched its innovative mobile service in the UK in and soon became known as a leader in mobile advertising, audience engagement, and for its ability to drive unprecedented response rates and return on investment for advertisers. "Blyk pioneers in the use of interactive text and multi-media messaging as an advertising format, leveraging the most predominant, everyday behavior of young people (sending and receiving messages on their phones) and enabling young people to communicate with brands in the same way they do with everyone else," Pal elucidated.

Having done campaigns for forty leading youth brands in the country ranging from FMCG, fashion, apparels and others, Blyk believes their end consumer is their celebrity. "Therefore, our focus is always to focus on providing the best user experience to our end users as they are the best voice any product or a service can ever have," Pal added. Some of the clients include Coke, Nokia, Bosch & Lomb, Fast Track, Vogue, Nike among many.

Commenting upon the recent association with Aircel, Pal stated, "Blyk on Aircel was launched in India on November 19, 2010 and has already more than 1million service users on Aircel network. Aircel is a major network operator partner which is very popular among the youth in India; similarly Blyk has been the most trusted brand among the youth around the world. We wanted to ensure the highest quality of service for our members and therefore decided to partner with Aircel, which has always been ahead of the curve in terms of offering great services to its members."

Most people consider their phones to be their personal space. So how does Blyk reach out to their target audience? "The behavioral pattern is not just restricted to India but most places in the world. Whenever we see a new technology or service arrive, it always starts by doing the same thing that the older one did, a little better often on just one aspect. It takes some time before people realize its potential to do different things rather than just doing things differently. Therefore, it is important that we follow a simplistic but yet intelligent approach and the case with Mobile Advertising is no different," Pal rationalized.

Blyk users are offered content by way of messages, both SMS and MMS, across categories i.e. Entertainment, Sports, Lifestyle comprising travel, fashion, wellness, gadgets etc. and other activities such as city specific events, dating and relationships tips, Comics and careers advice. "As users respond to the content and indicate their preferences, after a period of 6-8 weeks, they are then sent content from their areas of interest and finally that is tailored to their need," Pal said.

There have been many trends that have been noticed in this segment. One of the trends noticed is that some popular product categories include music, movies, games, travel, consumer electronics, entertainment tickets, apparel, others. "Also the age group from 15 to 30 years old prefers mobile shopping to PC shopping. Ease of use and convenience are the two key features that consumers like the most about shopping on their phones. Most common uses include price comparison, local store search, research (reviews, new, similar), and purchase," Pal said explaining some of the emerging trends.

In a scenario where advertisers are trying to do with this medium what was generally done in print, the face of mobile advertising has changed with the services offered being more interactive for consumers.

"We need to understand that mobile usage is all about communication and no communication can be one way only. Therefore, the service offered to the consumers has to be interactive and involve participation from the users. Mobile is the hottest medium that the world has witnessed so far and every user needs to be involved. It is more personal than any other device," explained Pal.

Talking about growth plans, Pal said. "We are confident and already witnessing that both Indian advertisers and global advertisers will make use of Blyk's unique ability to connect them with an important consumer segment by linking them with stuff they like. Also, with the roll out of Aircel 3G service the experience for it will only make the experience better for members. It provides an interesting platform for us to evolve and offer better services to members."

The Indian mobile advertising market witnessed an annual growth of 217 per cent in 2010, as compared to 93 per cent growth in global mobile advertising traffic. As the complete potential of this space hasn't been optimized yet, India is surely going to be at the forefront in mobile advertising. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]