The BIG Leap is clearly the broad Focus theme for Abraham Thomas – CEO, BIG FM in 2020.
Technology has brought about a dynamic change in entertainment consumption patterns. Content across the world is more accessible and an individual today has a plethora of options to consume entertainment basis their areas of interest. Brands too are trying to find their voice to stay relevant to the changing consumption habits of the new audience, an audience that assigns limited value to brand legacy. Today, brands are looking at integrated marketing opportunities to drive impact and get their message across.
A perfect storm is brewing for audio with the increasing relevance of local and hyper-local reach, changing consumption habits and the need for integrated marketing partnerships, the growth of programmatic content, the impact of local influencers, and the digital ecosystem driving multi-platform distribution.
The 5 themes for 2020 for Abraham Thomas and the BIG FM network to leverage the opportunities offered by this perfect storm are:
EVANGELIZING THE MEDIUM
Radio as a medium is unparalleled when it comes to local reach and the trust and credibility it enjoys. Radio also offers the opportunity for seamless integration with all surround media providing incremental reach when combined with TV and print due to the unique audience it brings. The ease of consumption of radio to a multi-tasking audience, the live and local content and the high engagement it provides, makes the new age radio an extremely potent option in your media plan.
In the current environment of ever-changing economic situations and consumption patterns, brands are faced with completely new challenges that demand constant transformation and innovation. At BIG FM, we intend to take this big leap to help brands deliver impact through innovations on radio and across a wider spectrum of amplification channels.
INTEGRATED MARKETING PARTNERSHIPS
The changing consumption habits of audiences have created new challenges for brands. Marketers are seeking integrated communication solutions to help brands meet their goals. While an integrated marketing campaign spans across multiple touchpoints across digital and traditional marketing channels, what makes it a ‘success’ is far from simple. At BIG FM, we have evolved from pure Inventory sales to Content Integrated Solutions to Integrated Marketing Partnerships and this requires a deeper understanding the client’s marketing challenges, using consumer insights to create a marketing solutions. Strategic Account Planning coupled with the native understanding of the medium helps in creating customized marketing solutions for our partners. We have teams that specialize in Sonic branding, creating ‘Mogo’s (musical logos) and giving brands a voice.
PURPOSE DRIVEN MARKETING
All brands have twin objectives – Brands for growth and Brands for good. Brands are increasingly venturing beyond their core business model of revenue generation to seek brand love by driving a relevant purpose. For them, this is a way to bond with their target audience on an emotional and tangible level to gain their trust. Through our brand positioning to ‘Dhun Badal Ke Toh Dekho’, we have created numerous purpose-driven initiatives that inspired a change in thought process with audiences and empowers brands to rally behind a cause that is near and dear to them. By adopting the thought of ‘Change Starts With You’, we continue to inspire listeners to change their perspective and thereby add value to their lives.
MULTI-PLATFORM DISTRIBUTION OF CONTENT
As part of the evolution, we at BIG FM facilitate multi-platform distribution of our audio content which helps us reach out to new-age audiences. BIG FM shows can be heard anywhere and anytime via podcasts which are readily available on our website – https://www.bigfmindia.com/podcasts/. Podcasts of popular shows like Suhaana Safar with Annu Kapoor, Mumbai Maska Maar Ke, Dhun Badal Ke Toh Dekho with Vidya Balan, BIG Heroes with Richa Anirudh, Yaadon ka Idiot Box with Neelesh Misra, Mumbai ka Sabse Bada Struggler among others witness heavy traffic on a regular basis. Given the massive community of potential listeners, podcasts make BIG FM’s entertainment portfolio easily accessible to a wide variety of audiences that need just a basic internet connection to hear their favourite shows. Big FM content will soon be available on multiple audio platforms paving the way for creation of programmatic advertising and branded content beyond radio.
MEASUREMENT & ANALYTICS
While the radio industry is working towards creating a robust and standardized measurement system, at BIG FM, we intend to offer detailed pre and post evaluations for partner campaigns which were designed basis their specific requirements. Working with premier research agencies, we are able to measure radio ad effectiveness across multiple parameters that help clients track brand awareness, saliency and intention to purchase decisions before, during and after the campaign. This helps us to demonstrate accountability of the medium and helps our partners to make informed media decisions. The same ROI mantra is followed across all marketing mediums used in each partner campaign.
2020 is clearly the year of the BIG LEAP for us.
