Mumbai: It’s a good time to be a consumer. New digital business models have flipped the customer-brand relationship on its head. Consumers no longer need to reach out to a brand; instead, brands come to customers offering more options and channels than ever before. But as marketers continue to wrestle to deliver and grab customer attention; the issues of fraud, data privacy and transparency are rapidly gaining significance.
The 14th Marketing Conclave organized by IAMAI, based on the central theme of the ‘Game of Marketing’ hosted some of the prominent marketing honchos and ad gurus of the industry as they came together to delve deep into the promising world insightful data while closely scrutinizing the sensitive issue of accountability and transparency of data.
Mr. Srinivas Jain, Executive Director & CMO, SBI Funds Management a panelist on the occasion said, “Things have changed dramatically in terms of capturing and usage of data. Marketers need to prepare themselves for the phase of ‘consent based data’ which will challenge the current pattern whilst paving the way for the next phase of growth.”
“As a consumer of data, marketers need to lay emphasis on ‘disclosure based campaigns’ which in turn will build customer trust while enhancing the brand’s transparency quotient, as ultimately it is not about the number of likes you garner but the level of engagement and experience you create for your target audience” he added.
Other key points discussed included how the brands today are profoundly engaging with data analytics and algorithms where creativity takes a back seat, customer is over indexed which ultimately hampers the end customer experience. While the panelists partly agreed they had a unanimous opinion stating that data is a key enabler in enhancing creativity as it helped in target the right set of audience, create opportunities, and enhance user experience thereby maximizing business impact.
Mr. Rajat Mehta – Sr. President & Country Head – Brand, Digital & Retail Marketing, Yes Bank, rightfully pointed out that “80-90% of activities that digital marketers are currently pursuing while banking on data will become illegitimate once the Indian version of the GDPR regime comes into play. The impact of data huge such that more than 25% of new business generated comes through digital marketing efforts besides enhancing options for cross-sell and up-sell. Marketers therefore have the urgent onus of getting compliant with data privacy while making it accessible to its customers.”
The opening session of the conclave saw Film Producer, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist, Ronnie Screwvala address the interesting topic of ‘the art of brand story telling’. He emphasized on driving the essence of compelling content, messaging and storytelling being the inevitable pillars of brand building.
The conference also hosted leading players of the Digital Marketing industry, some of the distinguished speakers who participated in this year’s conference included Ashwath Swaminathan, Head – Lakme, HUL, Tushar Vyas, Chief Strategy Officer – South Asia, GroupM, Ben Phillips, Vice President of Strategic Accounts, Blis, Amit Gujral, CMO, LG Electronics, Puneet Anand, Sr. General Manager (Marketing) & Group Head, Hyundai Motor India Ankit Desai, Chief Digital Officer, Marico, Kashyap Vadapalli, CMO, Pepperfry.com, Amit Sethiya, Head Marketing, SYSKA Group, Abraham Alapatt, Group President, Head – Marketing, Service Quality & Innovation, Thomas Cook , Sandeep Verma, President, Bajaj Corp, Pawan Sarda, Group Head-Digital, Future Group, Sonia Serrao, Global Media Lead, Tata Global Beverages
