Spek Digital is a Mumbai-based, fast-growing, Creative & Design-led Performance Marketing Agency, co-founded by four ex-Schbang employees. It is a story as to how, with the backing of the Schbang Network, these four young entrepreneurs are scaling what they say is the Next Big Performance Marketing Agency in India.
Spek Digital is a creative strategy player in the Performance Marketing and E-commerce space. Some of their clients include Tata Consumer Products, Growel Group, Reliance Brands Limited (RBL) and more.
MediaNews4U caught up with Crish Shah, Managing Director, Spek Digital, Krish Bajaj, CEO, Spek Digital, Mohit Palshetkar, Chief Operating Officer, Spek Digital and Neel Shah, Creative Director & SEO Specialist, Spek Digital
Q. What is the gap in the market thathas prompted Schbang to launch Spek Digital? What is its USP compared to agencies offering similar services?
When we launched Spek in 2020, we were among the early adopters of the growing E-commerce and quick Commerce wave. We identified a clear gap in the market agencies needed to understand how performance marketing assets differ from topline campaigns.
This was the key focus and the reason we chose the name Spek due to it’s easy to resonate nature of being deprived from the Spec Sheet, which is the sheet e-commerce vendors and media buying agencies use to brief creative agencies.
Q. What are the synergies that exist between Spek Digital and Schbang and how will these be leveraged?
We work closely with Schbang and the entire Schbang Network synergising multi-disciplinary expertise to deliver comprehensive campaigns for our clients across the board.
Q. Having said that is Spek Digital being treated as a startup where you have to first go from 0 to 1? What growth hacking techniques would probably work?
Spek is a design-led performance marketing start-up that focusses on sales, lead generation and footfall via online and offline solutions. Schbang plays a critical role in helping Spek scale and providing the right mentorship and guidance to provide our clients with optimum solutions.
Q. Is the business model of Spek Digital linked to client’s business outcomes? Kindly elaborate. Is is this going to the way forward for the industry in the coming three years?
While we cannot disclose specific details, our entire goal is to provide the same level of expertise towards creative design related to performance marketing, A+ Product Listings, Websites, Offline events as to social media and awareness activations. We have scaled several clients in small and large ways across the board from FMCG, F&B, Fashion, Pharmaceutical and many more.
Q. Today the best minds are not going into advertising due to poor remuneration. They are going into AI, crypto, deeptech. Is that a big challenge for Spek Digital and the industry?
AI lies at the forefront of Spek, with constant innovation in exploring how these tools can be leveraged more effectively.
From the grassroots level we focus on training and providing our teams with the knowledge needed to leverage the power of AI to the fullest extent. Our commitment to delivering solutions that drive future impact puts us in a strong position to be ahead of the game.
Q. In scaling the Next Big Performance Marketing Agency in India what have been the learnings from Schbang?
We are a Creative & Design Led Performance Marketing agency with emphasis on the design as we bring the level of detailed research and multi-demographic understanding towards providing performance marketing agencies with the designs that help improve sales and conversions.
Q. In making informed strategic directions and optimising operational efficiency how is it to be driven? Is being data driven important even for non-direct response campaigns?
Data driven is the only approach we take as it provides accurate data on what works and how we can expand on such insights.
Some such examples can include the following as per platforms:
- Amazon – Regions, Top SKU via Sales, Price Point & A+ Optimisation via keywords to help improve product listings & rank higher for searches
- Website using multiple tools such as Google Tag Manager to identify where the top regions are & the type of language for the ads to focus on those regions. Microsoft Clarify to help us understand and optimize the load speed & user journey to understand where the drop off is.
- Meta Ad Manager – Understanding what assets are our top performing & how we should use the platform based on Profile insights & ad insights, sometime conversion ads don’t tend to work well so using the platform for awareness & cookie pool building works well
- Google Ad Manager – To drive sales via Google search & Youtube, which has showcased key successes in the past
- Google Search Console to understand what our keyword ranking is against the top 100 search keywords and phrases for our brand so we can rank better for them
- Instagram analytics to understand our content & posting analytics
Q. In terms of platforms like Google, Meta, Amazon, Flipkart Marketplace, Youtube how do you decide what platforms a client should use? Do Snapchat and Reels work better if Gen Z is the core TG for a client?
Based on digital consumer journey mapping, each platform plays a distinct yet interconnected role in influencing purchase decisions. From awareness to conversion, every channel drives specific stages of the consumer experience.
- Meta – Facebook & Instagram: Awareness, Community Management & Cookie Pool Building
- Google Display (PMAX) & Youtube – While youtube serves as a Rich Media showcase being showcased on 4K Resolution screens towards affluent audiences, Google PMAX works more towards consideration as if they have googled it, they are now in the second stage of the consumer journey, consideration,
- Amazon & Flipkart – At this point consumers are both in Awareness for new products & Conversion for finalizing purchases. Platforms such as Amazon with their dedicated customer care team has a high trust factor for higher valued / large SKU products and is the go-to choose for many people looking to purchase higher value products with Amazon reviews being the key driver in the final decision
- Swiggy Instamart / Blinkit / Zepto – Similar to E-Commerce, Quick commerce serves both Awareness for new products & conversion / advocacy for desired products. With Quick commerce ads on the rise, they are starting to take the spotlight for several brands but limit in the product size due to logistical issues of package size. Something that Amazon has mastered worldwide.
Q. How is Spek Digital leveraging AI algorithms and predictive analytics to enhance productivity?
We leverage a comprehensive suite of advanced AI tools, each tailored for specific business needs:
- ChatGPT Pro – Utilise for deep research, Content analysis, de-briefing & image generation as proof of concept, we’ve also developed brand led AI brains that help us curate reports & content better & recently deployed AI agents to conduct several minor tasks
- Freepik Premium+ Suite with a large list of tools
- Video Generation – VEO 3, Kling 2.1 Master, MiniMax Hailuo
- Image Generation – Mystic 2.5, Google Imagen 4 Fast & 4 Ultra, Seedream
- Caption Ai – Subtitles
- OpenMagic – CGI Videos
Q. Will the bulk of Spek Digital’s work come during the festive season? That is when everyone makes a noise. Having said that, is trying to outshout often a mistake?
Our work has already initiated with revamping multiple SKU product listings across E-commerce & Quick commerce while also lining up several in-store events for several of our brands with Birdy’s being a key highlight for now.
Q. What role will data analytics play in Spek Digital helping clients stretch their budgets during the festive season later this year?
From Website conversions, amazon ACOS management to improving total order value, we’re working across the board to provide better solutions for our clients towards spending more to achieve higher sales generation.
Q. Who are the clients and that Spek Digital is working with and in which sectors is the key focus? What strategy does Spek Digital follow to retain clients?
At the moment we have worked with several clients, some being with us for a period of over five years, our client list includes: Ocean Beverages, Wellness Forever, Intan, Growel 360, Inventure Growth, Birdys, Hari:bol. From TATA Consumer products we work alongside: TATA Sampann Dry Fruits, Spices, Staples, Simply Better (SEO Focus) and more,
For Reliance Brands we work alongside several fashion brands and many more. We’ve worked on over 100+ brands over the period of five years, some being alongside Schbang, others in limited capacities providing solutions across Social Media Management, Performance Marketing, E-commerce management, Website management, SEO, offline events, OOH and lots more.
