Agency’s role is connecting brands & consumers, so that brands grow: Unny Radhakrishnan

Marketing agencies are playing a significant role in the evolution of new age brands, with the transition from personalisation to hyper-personalisation, by creating highly customised experiences that are tailored to individual needs and preferences. 

Industry data shows that marketing agencies that specialise in hyper-personalization are in high demand. According to a survey conducted by Econsultancy, 80% of marketers say that hyper-personalisation has a positive impact on their customer retention rates. According to a study by Accenture, 91% of consumers are more likely to interact with brands that provide personalised offers and recommendations. 

Digitas has been helping clients transform their business for the digital age by developing a comprehensive digital strategy and implementing it across all channels. They stay current on emerging technologies and trends and use their expertise to help their clients stay ahead of the curveTop of Form. With the acceleration of digital transformation, Digitas is focusing on cloud-based solutions, IoT and edge computing and Digital upskilling. 

Through this, Digitas is helping brands to develop and execute effective digital campaigns that drive awareness, engagement, and conversions and also enables brands to deliver exceptional customer experiences, increase customer loyalty, and drive revenue growth. 

In conversation with Adgully, Unny Radhakrishnan, CEO, Digitas India, speaks about data-driven insights, Artificial intelligence and machine learning, personalised content, omnichannel personalisation/ marketing, and more. 

How do marketing agencies contribute to the evolution of new-age brands as they transition from personalisation to hyper-personalisation? 

Keeping all the jargons aside, an agency’s role is ‘Connecting’ brands and consumers, so that brands grow. Both strategic and execution capabilities are critical. Given the changes in marketing landscape, as well as rapidly evolving technological possibilities, agencies need to have the capability to bring together (or ‘connecting’) all disciplines, rather than seeing in isolation. 

How do data-driven insights, artificial intelligence, and machine learning enable marketing agencies to create highly customised experiences tailored to individual needs and preferences?

Customised experiences are delivered to consumers at different touch points – whether it is media delivery, digital destination (web/ app) or direct communication. Data-driven insights give strategic directions. AI/ ML, etc., are in-built in some of the tools/ technologies that are used in these touch points. For example, in media, it will be in precise targeting and optimisation. On digital destinations, it could be personalised content. In direct communication, the example could be factors like ‘send-time’ optimisation. 

What is omnichannel personalisation/ marketing, and how do marketing agencies utilize it to create cohesive and personalised brand experiences across multiple channels? 

Omnichannel personalisation recognises the consumer at different touch points, based on the consumer profile that is built over time. Marketing agencies like us work with clients in defining a data strategy and building one-view of the consumer. Customer Data Platforms are the latest evolution in products that enable this. Once a central depository of customer profile is built, it can be used in media activation, personalised content and direct communications. Setting up omnichannel personalisation demands time and resources from brands and agencies. 

How does Digitas help clients transform their business for the digital age, and what strategies do they employ to stay ahead of emerging technologies and trends? 

Unlike typical marketing agencies, Digitas works with different business stakeholders at the client side – Marketing, Sales, Technology and Customer Service teams. Customer Experience (CX) is now the larger umbrella under which matured brands are seeing these functions. When we are able to see all digital interventions with the larger umbrella of CX, it gives us the opportunity to work far more closely with the brands and get involved in multiple work streams. So, our involvement are in projects as diverse as communication strategies & media, sales process automation, e-commerce build, CRM and Loyalty Solutions, just to name a few. 

How does Digitas utilise cloud-based solutions, IoT, and edge computing to enhance their clients’ digital strategies? 

Utilisation of these technologies is based on the requirements. For example, for an FMCG brand, one of the projects that we are doing is prediction engine for SKUs and order size for their sales team on ground. This is an ML model and we use cloud data platforms like Databricks. Similarly, an IoT solution is being designed for tracking retailers’ assets. 

How does Digitas contribute to digital upskilling, and what impact does it have on their clients’ ability to adapt to the digital landscape? 

More than clients’ ability, it is about agencies’ readiness. So, capability building and capacity building are always on priority for us. Since we also run a Global Engineering Delivery centre at Digitas India, which serves clients in Europe, North America and SE Asia, we are continuously building new capabilities and scaling them up. We now have teams in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, and Pune. We will be opening two more locations soon. 

In what ways does Digitas enable brands to deliver exceptional customer experiences, increase customer loyalty, and drive revenue growth through their digital strategies? 

As mentioned earlier, CX is now the focus for brands and that requires bringing together multiple capabilities and expertise, while working together very closely with all business functions on the brand side. That is our current direction.