Outlook 2018: For digital experts, it’s a mix of optimism, disruption & monetisation

Crystal-gazing into 2018, Chetan Asher, CEO, Tonic Worldwide, affirms that the year ahead definitely looks bright. He noted, “The Indian economy is poised to see a robust growth of 7.2 per cent in 2018 and we will see its positive impact on advertising too. From a digital perspective, we are seeing digitally-led campaigns gaining ground and this will significantly rise in the coming year.” 

Sounding equally optimistic about 2018, Mandeep Malhotra, Founding Partner & CEO, The Social Street, remarked, “I strongly feel that the trust in the medium will be the maximum as compared to any year in the past. Transit and malls should see an increase in brands being present and creating a need to be a differentiator.” 

 

Joe Thaliath, Chief Executive Officer, FCB Interface
Joe Thaliath, Chief Executive Officer, FCB Interface

According to Joe Thaliath, Chief Executive Officer, FCB Interface, focus on ROI and efficiency, coupled with the narrowing gap between strategy and delivery are driving the trend towards combining different skill sets under one roof. In 2018, this will get stronger. “While some agencies have specialist digital units, others are integrating digital into everything they do – offering clients a more comprehensive solution and making it easier to deliver on brand ownership,” Thaliath said, adding, “I believe the overall business/ economic landscape will look better as the positive impact of GST comes into play. This will also naturally have a positive impact on the advertising industry.” 

Taking a more indepth look, Andesh Bhatti, Founder and CEO, Collectcent Digital Media, observed, “Over the past two decades, I have seen the Indian advertising sector evolve from being a small-scaled business to a full-fledged industry. The industry growth figures are rising year on year and undoubtedly, the growth is enormous especially in the digital space. The advertising sector is evolving at a pace with the increasing use of smartphones and consumer wearable. For marketers, opportunities are huge as mapping your target consumers has become much simpler. Thanks to the tools the industry has adopted, understanding the consumer needs has become efficient.” 

Andesh Bhatti, Founder and CEO, Collectcent Digital Media
Andesh Bhatti, Founder and CEO, Collectcent Digital Media

He further said, “Digital has given a different edge altogether for marketers to speed up the game, owing to broad verticals of marketing, new techniques, and power mechanisms. Rise in online transactions has also set new goals for marketers to tap their target customers via all possible digital channels. While other industries are struggling with a rising percentage of 8-10 per cent, the digital ad industry in India is roaring at 35 per cent growth.” 

“As we go speeding into 2018, growth is expected in retail advertisement, as several players are entering the food and beverages segment, e-commerce gaining more popularity in the country, and domestic companies testing out the waters in multiple geographies,” Bhatti noted. 

Expectations 

Anil S Nair, CEO & Managing Partner, Law & Kenneth Saatchi and Saatchi:
“2018 should be better year than 2017 in all aspects since we all are working towards managing this change better with more learnings and better experiences. From the business perspective, especially in India, the two speed breakers – Demonetisation impact and the business adapting to the GST – affected petty traders and vendors. The cash flow should be better this year. I believe it is going to be a better year, but we are still in the disruptive change that is happening; there will be bigger challenges, but the industry is far more equipped to face it this year.” 

Anil S Nair, CEO & Managing Partner, L & K Saatchi and Saatchi
Anil S Nair, CEO & Managing Partner, L & K Saatchi and Saatchi

Chetan Asher, CEO, Tonic Worldwide:
“We will see videos gaining more ground and it will be interesting to see formats and stories that will evolve to make them effective. Mixed reality is another trend that may start to see interesting experiments being implemented.” 

Joe Thaliath, Chief Executive Officer, FCB Interface:
“As more people get online, and those online spend more time connecting to the net on their phones – driven by cheaper data and phones – we will also see the emergence of new platforms. These new platforms will influence consumers to start consuming content differently; we are going to see increasing but shorter lived disruption across the communication cycle.” 

Andesh Bhatti, Founder and CEO, Collectcent Digital Media:
“The handheld device is taking the world by a storm. It is more of a transition phase from TV to mobile, and the technologies adopted by marketers to keep their audience engaged. On the other hand, brands are aiming to offer Customer Experience with being relevant and closer to them. There is a wide scope of growth, especially when one looks at the rising smartphone penetration. 

A big trend – Reality shows are increasingly gaining importance on smartphone screens. It will be a revolution soon, with all major live streaming brands betting big on it. 

Businesses need to ensure they have a cohesive mobile marketing plan to connect with those digital consumers. The Robotics and AI (artificial intelligence) would make things even better for the industry. The ad space has been evolved around tech giant based six verticals: social, desktop, video, mobile, native, and programmatic. 

There has been a stagnant rise in mobile adoption rates since 2015. With smartphones on the rise, consumers are relying on their devices. But the significant change observed would be the number of brands now adopting digital mediums for marketing and advertising. Programmatic has taken over the world of advertising. Efficient and cost-effective with great targeting capabilities, programmatic has revolutionised how we buy and sell digital advertising – and improved it for all involved. 

Social media and Video are crucial with a new user joining social media every 15 seconds. Small businesses need to up their social media strategy this year.” 

Key trends to watch out for 

Anil S Nair, CEO & Managing Partner, Law & Kenneth Saatchi and Saatchi:
“The biggest trend is that Big Data is getting a little more meaningful than just random data. What I am most excited about is our ability to know more and, therefore, do things far more accurately and effectively. In India, we are sadly far behind in terms of the ways we use data. But that is changing. There is a lot of data being generated. The whole financial linking, the Aadhaar and UIDAI, is one of the biggest processes happening in India, although at Government level, but at the same time there is similar data connectivity happening, which gives brands and marketers a far more accurate way of understanding who their customers and consumers are and how they should be reached. So, I feel we are going to be better equipped, have better knowledge and based on that we can unleash our creative horses and much better way.” 

The red flags 

Anil S Nair, CEO & Managing Partner, Law & Kenneth Saatchi and Saatchi:
“No.1 is that people are living in denial that the change is a fad and not a real thing. People are still immersing their heads in the sand. Secondly, it is to over-estimate the change. There is another group that has a doomsday prediction and want to disrupt and change everything. So, the red flag is about understanding real degree of change and adapting. So, there is no revolution, there is an evolution instead. My two red flags are: ignoring and over-estimating. We have to learn to be in the middle. There is a change, but not as rampant. Do not throw out the baby with the bath water.” 

Chetan Asher, CEO, Tonic Worldwide
Chetan Asher, CEO, Tonic Worldwide

Chetan Asher, CEO, Tonic Worldwide:
“While technology can be an enabler, communication designed for people must be driven by people. Over-dependence on technology is something that one must watch out for.” 

Joe Thaliath, Chief Executive Officer, FCB Interface:
“Pressures on margins will continue. We will have to create new assets and find new ways to monetise our assets and services.” 

Mandeep Malhotra, Founding Partner & CEO, The Social Street:
“I don’t see any major red flags for the year 2018 due to the election year in 2019. Therefore, the request is to keep innovating and keep changing.” 

 Mandeep Malhotra, Founding Partner & CEO, The Social Street
Mandeep Malhotra, Founding Partner & CEO, The Social Street

Andesh Bhatti, Founder and CEO, Collectcent Digital Media:
“Ad fraud is a consistent red flag in the digital advertising industry. It is concerned with the theory and practice of fraudulently representing online advertisement impressions, clicks, and conversion or data events in order to generate revenue. 

Ad frauds have become crucial for marketers to understand, detect and manage before it gets too late. Ad fraud has the potential to affect all other areas of optimization and the advertising campaign as a whole. However using appropriate tools in identifying and mapping the relevant customer, and adequate metrics to monitor live campaigns often reduces the chances of fraudulence. 

As a service provider, we have been able to change perception and retain customers by implementing ways of ensuring maximum return on investment for our advertisers and publishers. We have been following a holistic approach of catering our clients with a 24X7 business consultation ensuring maximum impact in delivery. Another impactful process has been real-time reporting in an on-going campaign that has helped us achieve greater return on investment for both advertisers and publishers. With our unique ROI optimisation tools, we are able to drive real business results on advertising spend and not mere clicks. The constant data-driven learning capabilities of our engines ensure that the right media is targeted and the best advertisement is served in the perfect advertisement slot. Such optimisation helps in an effective cost per acquisition (CPA) model, drives more traffic towards advertisements and avoids ad frauds.”

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