It’s the dawn of hyper-personalisation: Anuj Sidharth, MediaTek India

MediaTek is a market leader in developing innovative systems-on-chip (SoC) for mobile devices, home entertainment, connectivity and IoT products. According to the 2021 Q1 Global Smartphone AP Market Share by Counterpoint Research, MediaTek expanded its leading position in the global smartphone chipset market share to 35%.

During the pandemic period, the company reiterated its commitment to Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat strategies. In order to address the dynamics of accelerated digital transformation in the pandemic times, MediaTek believes in focusing on creating personalised consumer experiences and aligning existing tactics to fully utilise mobile and digital platforms to ensure an omnichannel customer service experience.

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In conversation with Adgully, Anuj Sidharth, Deputy Director - Marketing & Communication, MediaTek India, speaks at length about the company’s marketing strategies to stay engaged with its consumers, how technology is enabling new trends impacting customer preferences today and much more.

MediaTek is a B2B brand, where actually the brand is not visible. As a marketer how do you overcome this challenge and make the brand visible for both classes of customers (B2B and B2C)?

Marketing and communication today need to address the challenges associated with a changing socio-economic and business environment and stay relevant and resilient at the same time. To address the dynamics of accelerated digital transformation, we need to focus on creating personalised consumer experiences and align existing tactics to fully utilise mobile and digital platforms to ensure an omnichannel customer service experience.

MediaTek is the No. 1 chipmaker for smart TVs, Wi-Fi, smartphones, VADs, and many more and powers nearly 2 billion connected devices annually. We focus on developing technologies keeping humans in mind and accessible to all. Even though our customers are primarily OEMs and ODMs, however, with the changing market dynamics, it is imperative that the consumers are aware of the benefits of using a MediaTek powered device. To stay engaged with the consumers, we maintain consistent interactions across different channels that are a strategic mix of digital, virtual, and in-person communication.

We have adopted a holistic 360-degree marketing strategy, leveraging a mix of traditional and new-age marketing channels, to reach the consumers with relevant information and enhanced experiences. The tactics include a strategic mix of traditional print and electronic media, new-age digital marketing strategies, content marketing through curated MediaTek information hubs at various online platforms and e-commerce stores, along with various on-ground BTL campaigns, to name a few.

What are the new rules for creating effective branding in a volatile world?

Consumer habits are undergoing sudden shifts due to the changing life patterns and personalising the experience for them is increasingly important by adapting marketing messaging to deliver compelling content leveraging technology and new-age tools. The key to success in the current competitive business landscape is for brands to capture the trust and attention of consumers by providing a truly captivating and engaging content experience. Our strategy in this scenario is to re-engage with existing customers through several means like newsletters, social media, native content, and other in-person interactions, while also striving to build confidence among new customers.

To capture new markets and build momentum around our new products, we need to create awareness among our OEM community and their consumer. For example, we have our brand stores on e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart. These stores provide consumers with relevant information about MediaTek and MediaTek-powered devices, be it the product portfolio, features, advantages, user reviews, technical specifications, etc.

We have been devising several brand campaigns to effectively communicate our messaging in a simplified yet engaging manner. A recent example is our ‘Incredible In, Incredible Out’ campaign, which highlights “What we put into our MediaTek Dimensity 5G chipsets shapes the incredible experiences you get out of it.” Similarly, when we talk about how “MediaTek brings 5G to devices everywhere – not just smartphones – but PCs, routers, mobile hotspots, and more”, this clearly communicates our leading market position across devices.

Another example is our MediaTek Technology Diaries campaign, wherein we constantly engage with various industry stakeholders, OEMs, media, and key opinion leaders to discuss the latest technology innovations through informal conversations.

Over the years how have you embraced technology and how that has influenced your approach to marketing?

Technology is enabling new trends impacting customer preferences today, so it also has relevance and application across changing marketing dynamics. Strategies have been devised around data-driven analytics, digital channels like social media, relevant and compelling content, newsletters, virtual meetings, strategic video content, and digital ad campaigns, all of which may be optimised through the use of technologies like AI and advanced data analytics. Technology has enabled a coalescence of different tactics across the eco-system, not just marketing but also product innovation, sales, customer experience, among others. These lead to a better understanding of the market and improved business opportunities.

For every strategic communication you need to cull out strong insights. How do you go about culling those unique insights to formulate a successful communication strategy?

Communication is an integral aspect of brand building. In the new, crisis-driven scenario, we need to focus on the evolving societal patterns and adopt appropriate customer interaction strategies that can take the message across different customer segments, both B2B and B2C, in the most effective manner. Compelling content is the cornerstone of the digital campaign.

MediaTek adopts a dedicated data-driven approach to collect data across all channels and analyse them to derive meaningful insights. Whether it is through the use of digital marketing tools or through end-consumer surveys, we are constantly analysing consumer feedback and data at granular levels to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities.

Given the constant flux in consumer behaviour, especially in pandemic times, what is your go-to strategy to understand your customers’ unique wants and needs?

It is the dawn of hyper-personalisation, and market success will have to take into account the changing consumer behavior patterns and requirements and deliver results accordingly. In the post-COVID-19 future, there will be an increased focus on technology as a facilitator across domains and sectors to provide the customer with an omni-channel customer service experience.

At MediaTek, we are constantly innovating to address the rapidly changing consumer needs, whether it is the recently launched HP Chromebook 11a powered by MediaTek MT8183 or the latest smartphones powered by our diverse range of MediaTek Dimensity 5G series, and MediaTek Helio G series chipsets equipped with MediaTek HyperEngine gaming technology, or even the latest Smart TVs powered by MediaTek. These are some of the examples of how effectively our go-to-market strategies have worked even during these challenging times.

Additionally, we are also reaching out to the masses through tournaments such as the Free Fire Gaming Masters eSports organised in collaboration with JioGames. Such moves have helped us reach out to India’s rapidly growing gaming community.

Edited for length and clarity.

(Edited by Shanta Saikia.)

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