What a dramatic change this Covid19 has brought to our lives, whether it is the business or for us human beings. India went for a complete lockdown beginning March to fight the pandemic. Undoubtedly, all business establishments irrespective of their strength and type of industry have been affected by the recent outbreak of COVID-19 to a great extent.
Businesses, jobs, saw great upheavals, the world also saw a tectonic shift in the way we communicated. The Indian Advertising all through this crisis/ lockdown has been on their feet by innovating new methods of communication for their brands to reach out to their consumers. Brand communication was more empathetic, keeping in mind the sentiments and moods of the consumer in general.
Medianews4u in their series ‘Back to Business’ have spoken to 70+ brands on how they are effectively changing their communication strategies. We are now talking to the Advertising Agencies who are the brand custodians on what will be their strategy for their clients in the new normal.
Sathya Namakkal – President OMD Mudramax speaks exclusively to us on the advertising spends and the festive season ahead.
The lockdown is more or less lifted, what as an Agency would be your priorities toward your brands?
Many brands are in the planning stage for the forthcoming months (Festival, IPL schedule time). While the mood is getting better, there is still a lot of uncertainty pertaining to the business prospects of clients. Therefore, the priority is to be prepared with “some agile plan options” for the following months and help clients navigate this period, well.
As brands now are going digital, will you advise them to also start their own e commerce platforms?
This is a no-brainer! Brands must ensure that the customers enjoy a seamless path2purchase journey across all channels of brand engagement. YES, e-comm is also an essential channel that clients should be investing in immediately.
Will brands now be more open to more spend on digital as compared to traditional platforms?
I would say, “Put your money where your consumer is”, because the consumer today is channel or media agnostic. They traverse between screens with ease. As a result some brands would invest more on digital and some on TV or other traditional platforms. One should not generalise it.
How will you rebuild brand loyalty for certain brands which fell off the radar during this lockdown?
By over-investing, sensibly. Consistency (or continuity) is as essential as against a quick spike in advertising for such brands.
Will Ad Spends on TV see a spike as GEC is back with fresh content?
Answer is YES and NO. Yes, because of the fact that fresh content (including some large format shows) is back should move the viewership needle up for this genre. No, because, fortunately or unfortunately this year IPL 2020 is coinciding with the pre-festival spike period. Interesting times ahead as we wait and watch the “GEC versus IPL game” this year! And IPL on Hotstar is also an attractive option, more than ever now.
