We are creating a universe today that connects across cultures: Sapangeet Rajwant

These are volatile and uncertain times today, and it has become all the more challenging to stay on top of one’s game, especially for marketing heads. CMOs today have to adopt numerous strategies to stay on top of the constant evolution in the marketing space.

The 2023 edition of CMOs’ Charcha – Delhi Chapter held on February 10, 2023, reflects all the inflexion points facing marketing and marketing heads today.

Delivering a keynote address on the topic ‘Using new platforms and avenues of technology to amplify storytelling in marketing’ at the 4th edition of CMOs’ Charcha, Sapangeet Rajwant, Head of Marketing and Digital, Hindi Mass Entertainment, Viacom18, introduced to the audience the influencer community that Viacom18 has created and how it is boosting engagement with consumers. She also spoke about how rapidly consumer marketing has changed.

“We have seen in all these years that consumer marketing has changed rapidly in every sector and every dynamic. How I used to reach out to consumers 10 years back and how I reach out to consumers today are very different. We, as a traditional TV channel, have evolved and come a long way in how we market our product, which is TV series, to consumers. We start from the bottom of the pyramid to go to the crest of the pyramid and cater to the requirements of all the people on the platform that they are present,” said Sapangeet Rajwant.

She further added, “Today, engagement for us has become of prime importance and we try to see how we can engage with our consumers at a deeper level in any medium.”

Highlighting the storytelling prospect of consumer marketing, she said, “Marketers are storytellers, and with the newer formats and tools available to us, we can now personalise our engagement. For example, ‘you sitting there in the 4th row, maybe 7 seats from the left, I think I can customise my marketing according to you and talk to you in the language you understand the best.”

“For us, it is important to understand what the consumer wants, and we create our communication in a similar manner so that you can engage with us on a higher level,” she added.

Speaking about how Viacom18 and Colors have been using technology to create more personalised content for consumer engagement, Rajwant said, “Technology has developed to create secondary and tertiary platforms and avenues for engagement, where we can have personalised and meaningful conversations with the consumer – both individually and as a group. Today, if I want to tap into a family where I am launching a huge show, I will be talking to a 16-year-old girl on a digital platform and I’ll also be talking to a family through my TV communication. Technology has enabled me to not only go one on one with you, but to also go mass and one-on-one together,” she pointed out.

She went on to cite an example of using technology using the AI avatar of Nora Fateh, and explained, “The advantage we have today is the ability to create these multi-platform experiences. Imagine you are at an event on the ground, while using an AI-enabled device you can interact with your favourite onscreen character, and we have done that. In our dance reality show, we actually created an AI avatar of Nora Fateh and she was dancing with the audience at a ground event.”

“These are the experiences and ‘aha’ moments that we are creating with our audiences because of the technology. Today, technology enables us to reach out to you and give you those wow and aha moments. We are creating a universe today that connects across cultures and make diverse conversation in the public domain. We are incorporating the legacy of the traditional broadcast brand like Colors by leveraging technology to amplify our storytelling and to reach out to consumers through multifaceted avenues.”

She further said, “With Colors, we have always taken an innovative approach. We believe that being static and stagnant is not the way for marketing. Every time there is a new technology that evolves and we are very hungry to try that. We were the first ones in the TV broadcast case who actually experimented with Metaverse. For a non-fiction show, ‘Dance Deewane Juniors’, we actually created an entire Metaverse, where we did the press conference in the Metaverse, and we invited the consumers to be part of the Metaverse and engage with the brand. Now, this is what I mean when I say deeper level engagement, and Colors has tried to achieve that in every sphere of marketing they do. Whether we are going on the ground and creating consumer connect programs or we are building communities online, we ensure that we reach out to the consumer where the consumer is present and that is what is required today as marketers.”

These are edited excerpts. For the complete keynote address watch below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTmKlqYE2rI