The world of advertising is constantly adapting to the latest trends in the market and businesses are simultaneously leveraging these ideas to send better promotional messages to an expansive audience. With 2020 behind us, every business is coming up with its own set of marketing strategies to take on 2021 in a better-prepared way. With both consumers and businesses becoming better accustomed to the digital ecosystem, brands are all set to take on the upcoming challenges with several new digital advertising trends. Here are five such trends you will definitely see all throughout 2021.

Growing necessity of Omnichannel platforms

Also known as creative management platforms or CMPs, omnichannel platforms will become a dire necessity in the year 2021, rather than just being an additional bonus. By integrating all the formats of digital advertising such as banner ads, display ads, mobile ads, digital videos, etc., these platforms will help businesses in increasing their flexibility of approaching the target audience apart from giving a big push to their efficiency and productivity. This will help them create more compelling ads by continuously tracking the audience response and making the necessary changes to ensure a seamless customer experience. Since this platform will gather a lot of data due to multiple channels, the analysis will help them bridge the gap between themselves and their consumers. Research data reveals that 79 % of consumers prefer personalised customer services, and omnichannel platforms effectively cater to the same.

Increasing popularity of Programmatic TV

It is being predicted that by 2021, a third of the global TV ad revenue will come from programmatic TV, and therefore, this is one trend that brands should be careful not to miss. Consumer behaviour has changed a whole lot since 2020, and nobody can deny that this shift has been caused by the pandemic. Keeping this in mind, businesses in 2021 will give a good amount of importance to programmatic TV advertising so as to target their end-users more effectively. With new players in the market like Apple TV and Disney Hotstar, businesses will keep proper track of the war brewing between these streaming channels to keep a close eye on how the audience is interacting with their TVs. Further, businesses will purchase TV inventory via programmatic platforms and also try to bring in traditional methods of advertising under the automation umbrella to smoothen out the whole process of programmatic advertising. 

OTT will be in-trend

The growth of the OTT industry is expected to attain great heights in 2021. In India, between March 2020, and July 2020, there was a 30 % hike in paid subscriptions in the OTT industry - the numbers shot from 22.2 million to 29.0 million, and this is only expected to expand. Consumers can now go beyond borders and access international content. Hence, they will do proper research to get their hands on the best quality content and search for subscription plans that suit their needs -  whether monthly, quarterly, annually or whatever plan the platform offers. Since consumers are willing to pay money for good content, they will try and from their end that they get their money’s worth. Further, OTT platforms will also help in penetrating niche markets and reach small towns and rural areas.

Virtual Events will become more frequent

Since consumers are doing everything from the comfort of their homes, businesses will resort to hosting online events - be it for the launch of a product or sharing any kind of information. In-person events are barely an option anymore which is why virtual and hybrid (a combination of in-person and online) events will become more popular. This will be a great opportunity for businesses to engage a much larger audience because there are no boundaries for reach in the digital space. These events will be highly interactive and have question-answer sessions to invite as many attendees as is possible. Convenience is a strong factor here which holds a significant amount of importance for the consumers. Furthermore, surveys have shown that about 67% of people believe that hybrid events will be the in-thing in the future, and also, 71% said that they will continue to attend events digitally even if they have the option for LIVE visits.

Interactive Content will be the new normal

The age of one-way advertisements is gone as businesses are trying more and more to focus on higher engagement rates. For the audience to feel involved, two-way communication is necessary. This is the reason why interactive ads will become more common. Consumers will be made to feel like they are having a one on one conversation with the brand so that they do not feel like they are a part of the crowd. This kind of engagement will also make their experience more wholesome and enjoyable. The year 2021 will see a lot of quizzes, surveys, feedback forms, polls, questionnaires, etc. so that the consumers spend more time on the brand itself, and also with the brand. Statistics tell us that by 2021, growth in social, connected TV, and over-the-top (OTT) advertising will drive programmatic display to almost $80 billion. For businesses to get used to their consumers’ requirements, they will have to keep manoeuvring their lens to get the best results across multiple touch-points. So, these are our top five digital advertising trends that we think will help you flourish in your digital journey and help you in driving those desired numbers. 

The year 2021 will see many necessary and quick changes in the marketing landscape and Influencer marketing is expected to take over and be a vital element of this much-needed change. The nature of digital marketing and social commerce is ever-changing, and as it continues to create newer identities for itself, Influencer marketing is acting as a firm backbone to it. It is already very huge, and since businesses anyway map out their marketing plans days and months in advance, right now would be the best time to put your money into some influencer marketing trends. Here is our list of the top five trends that we think will be the rage this year, in 2021:

Increase in authenticity of ‘no-edit edits’

Today’s audience is smart and can very easily figure out if a post is natural or scripted. This is the reason why authenticity holds significant importance. Influencers have received criticism in the past for posting reviews that seem fake, and this, in turn, has a negative impact on the numbers. Since most can figure out whether a review is real or paid, companies will be more likely to show content that does not look too filmy or sponsored. Influencers will allow for a raw, unedited sneak-peek into their lives to have an honest connection with the audience wherein they are the truest version of themselves. The #nofilter trend will take over and owing to the originality of the content, the audience will act on the call-to-action.

Higher worth of value-driven content

Proper value-driven content can shift and change certain pre-conceived ideas and notions of the audience, thereby inviting more traffic. Generating and sharing quality content will also create and good brand image that will have a positive impact on the audience and drive brand sentiment, loyalty, and sales figures. This will also help in forming strong communities with ardent followers who will believe in what the company is trying to do and achieve. Companies too will focus on content that means something to the target audience, so that they can both relate and respond to it.

Growth and Expansion of partnerships

Rather than only doing basic sponsorships, companies will have a proper partnership with influencers wherein this relationship will continue for an extended time period. Through this partnership, the companies will create brand awareness via these influencers without trying to directly market or sell their products. This will make the audience believe that the brand cares about their needs and requirements and the results will be mutually beneficial to both parties. Since influencers are well-known and have a dedicated fan following, companies will collaborate with influencers to release a signature line of products to pull in more traction. With this kind of personal touch, brands will garner the loyalty and trust of their customers. Companies will also try and drive social-cause campaigns through the influencers to connect with the audience on an emotional scale.

Seamless integration of platforms for shareability

Since influencers are present across multiple social media platforms, collaborating or partnering with them would inadvertently imply that the reach will be there across these platforms as well. Since the follower base of the influencers trust them and value their opinions and judgements, their posts will add credibility to the brand and business. It will show that the brand is trustworthy and reliable. Influencer marketing will tap into highly shareable platforms and their integration for seamless reach and experience. More of data-driven analytics and infographics will be shared by brands and customers for a better understanding and awareness regarding usage and experience. Similarly, brands and social media platforms will be better connected as well to share updates and reviews across mediums.

An upsurge in micro and nano influencers

Micro and nano influencers will act as key brand partners in this year of 2021. These influencers will enable businesses to reach out to that audience which is otherwise unreachable, or a certain niche segment that can help improve the awareness of the brand as well as the sales performance. Micro and nano influencers will help companies create a strong foothold in the market as their reviews will come from personal usage that is open to the followers to see and judge. These reviews and posts will act as crucial drivers in the purchase decisions of the audience. The influencers will not merely help in amplifying the presence of the brand but also help in communicating important information regarding its products and services.  So these are the five influencer marketing trends that we believe influencers will shape the marketing landscape of businesses in 2021. By incorporating these into your digital marketing plans and strategies, your company will be able to perform its best by working in tandem with the requirements of both your business and your target audience, ultimately helping you to achieve the desired results.

In 2021, businesses will have to move past their losses in the year 2020, and come up with robust digital marketing strategies for long-term benefits. They will have to ensure that their approach is all-encompassing and functions smoothly across all platforms and channels. Several industries have already started taking the required steps to ensure that the evolving needs of their customers are well looked after. Last week in Digital, we discussed digital marketing trends that will pick up the pace in 2021. This week, in the third and final part of ‘Digital Marketing Trends of 2021,’ we will talk about the radical innovations that will change how digital marketing functions. Related Article : Digital Marketing Trends of 2021 - Part 1

The rise of Virtual Influencers

The audience connects with influencers authentically and organically which encourages the trust factor. Businesses will definitely use this as a key advertising strategy to communicate their messages to the target customers effectively. Brands will leverage technology to showcase their products and services by giving lives and personalities to the said influencers. In fact, influencer marketing campaigns are going to be a big thing in 2021. Micro-influencers and nano-influencers will be pulled in to reach out to the smaller and unreachable segments of the audience. It is being said that with influencer marketing, the engagement rates will go three times higher in the coming year. However, brands will have to be vigilant and take proper measures to ensure that their audience is not being misled with false information.

The upcoming era of blockchain marketing

Blockchain marketing will lead to certain kinds of small scale contracts that ensure transaction settlement only when the conditions of the agreement are fulfilled. This will help maintain transparency with work and also create a drive to fulfil tasks and achieve results. Google’s monopolisation in the ad world will decrease because brands will now be able to advertise independently on online platforms. It will also get easier to analyse the metrics of advertisement, which will help reduce cases of ad frauds and increase the return on investment. Further, fake accounts and spambots will be traceable, and consumers will be in proper charge of their data.

Instagram lite to take over regional marketing

To offer a core and legitimate experience to people, Instagram is testing the launch of Instagram lite for all those people who miss out on it due to poor network issues or just low phone memory. To make things more exciting and to bring in the sense of involvement, they are rolling it out in some major Indian languages such as Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. The main motive of launching Instagram lite is to integrate a clean, responsive, and fast experience for its users. This will also give direct competition to other apps like Chingari, MX Takatak, Trell, and so on.

The makeover of branded content ads

Branded content ads will receive some interesting makeovers and tweaks, as Instagram will enable advertisers to create branded content ads without the need for creators to post it on their own. The creators too, will have higher control and hold over giving approval or withdrawing it with respect to any ad that is published from their handle. Brands will have more flexibility and will face lesser bottlenecks while making and running branded ad campaigns. The promotion process will become much more smoother with the options of adding product tags. Also, brands will be able to extract higher value from the content as it will allow people to shop directly from the creators. Additionally, ads will also have tappable elements like hashtags, mentions and locations - both on IG reels and stories.

Multi-touch attribution model with data

Artificial intelligence will enable marketers to keep a close tab on all touchpoints of a consumer’s digital journey. This will be achieved via increased data accumulation and higher behavioural (online behaviour that the consumer exhibits) tracking - from jumping websites to comparing price points, to viewing competitor’s sites - everything will be taken note of for later analysis. The consumer’s journey will not just be analysed at the first and last touchpoint but will be captured at every step of the way. The information thus collected will be used to optimise websites for a more enhanced user experience and create content that will receive better engagement. Change and innovation are two things that are ever-constant in the digital marketing field. To be in sync with these changing trends is critical because they will help with that competitive edge over others in the market. Right now, online is where the customers are, and therefore, that is precisely where businesses should be reaching out to them. Download the PDF version Related Article : Digital Marketing Trends of 2021 - Part 2

Over the years, the digital marketing landscape has undergone several transformations for easier communication and better experience with the audience it targets. It is a continuous evolution process, and it brings in the much-needed change to keep pace with the trends. To expand their creativity and boundaries, businesses need to harness and use these new technologies, techniques, and innovations. Last week in Digital, we spoke about the fundamental digital marketing trends that we can expect to see in the upcoming year. This week, we will talk about those trends that will pick up pace in the year 2021 and are an absolute must for your businesses to adopt so that performance is at its best.

AI will induce hyper personalisation

In 2021, Ad creating platforms and software will drive hyper personalisation with their advertisements. Personalised things will become hyper personalised as brands will use more and more information about the customer by analysing their profile data, purchasing behaviour, location, demography, real-time behavioral data, and so on, to make recommendations and suggestions that best suit their time and requirement. Customers today are very technology-friendly, but they also face a time crunch owing to their busy routines. With hyper personalisation, this will become easier because AI will enable them to see the right content at the right time. AI will further help analyse written content for hyper-targeting customers keeping the readability score in mind. Customers will feel that the brand really cares about them.

Online shoppers will adopt voice-based search

Many businesses will tap into the e-commerce market because it is lucrative, and most of the millennials today prefer shopping online. Soon enough, rather than typing the words, they will be giving voice commands to their AI voice assistants to complete a purchase for them. The power of voice search can already be seen making its presence felt, and it is assumed to become the in-thing in 2021. It will personalise the user experience by maintaining a record of the individual’s preferences, save time, and will also make it much easier for the user to find a product online. The SEO game, too, will change accordingly so that voice-based searches can provide optimum results. Furthermore, customers will be more likely to give feedback, thanks to voice-aided typing.

Interactive ads will take over static ads

Static ads will receive a fine-tuning to turn into something more dynamic, that is, interactive ads, and thereby, become more engaging for the customers. Interactive ads will enable customers to see content that is relevant to their interests and needs. Rather than passively consuming an advertisement, they will now actively participate in its presentation. The usual redirecting to websites and apps will be avoided, and this will also help improve brand recall. People today prefer interactions and, therefore, look for things in an advertisement that will add value to their lives. Static ads will not be able to cater to this requirement, but interactive ads, on the other hand, will provide them with that immersive experience. Furthermore, it is said that interactive ads can increase customer engagement by 47 percent compared to traditional ads.

AR & VR will have new Avatars

AR and VR techniques can be used effectively by both B2B and B2C businesses for their marketing and sales strategies. It is expected that more than 61 percent of consumers will buy from their retailers via augmented reality services or virtual reality services. This particular trend will receive all the more hype owing to the Coronavirus pandemic. By trying on things from the comfort of one’s home, conversion rates will be much higher. Virtual reality will club action and experience together, thereby making the purchase process wholesome - providing this kind of digital experience can become a game-changer for many brands and businesses. Not just this, but AR will also help with a brand’s promotional events, and this aspect will receive a big push in the coming year.

Employees as the brand’s spokesperson

The year 2021 will see employees engaging positively with their brands on social media. Working remotely has led to the invention of several new methods. Employees will help spread the word and the brand message by being socially active, and this will have a much more significant and far-reaching impact. Brand videos featuring employees will receive the required traction because they will be speaking as internal members of the brand to the external audience - a massive boost for building that trust factor. After all, the information will be raw and unfiltered, making it more believable; and also add authenticity because the information is not coming from the company but in real-time from its people. This method will help bring in a quality talent pool for the organizations and further highlight its goals and values. All in all, these are some of the digital marketing trends that are expected to give your brands the much-needed makeover in the year 2021. Keeping track of the changes and adapting these methods will help get the brand across to the masses in both an efficient and effective manner. Download the PDF versionRequest Consultation

The Coronavirus pandemic has furthered digital marketing by a considerable margin in the past few months. Not like it wasn’t popular before, but now, it is possibly one of the go-to methods that people are using to get their brands across to people. The new normal has definitely changed the way businesses function, and with employees working remotely, everybody is putting in constant efforts to adopt new ways and techniques, so that their organisations function as smoothly as they would, prior to the pandemic. Since work from home is expected to be a key takeaway from the year 2020, businesses are gearing up to target, engage, and retain their customers apart from also generating new leads - all this in the light of the fact that almost everybody has had to do away with the traditional methods of marketing. Even digital marketing for that matter has changed and continues to evolve. People today are buying all sorts of things online - medicines, clothes, sanitisers, food, etc. With the changing consumer behaviour, digital marketing is also changing to adapt. Therefore, to continue making those bucks, here are some interesting digital marketing trends that will take over in the year, 2021:

Power of voice-search

Using the voice-search based method, people can talk to their devices, ask questions, seek information, and do a variety of other things that does not require the traditional text-based or typing-based search. Google, Alexa, and Siri are famous and common examples of voice assistants that people know of today. They are rather fascinating and convenient to use as well.  Conversational interfaces are expected to take over and this might make CaaP (Conversations as a Platform) an actual thing. NLP or Natural processing Language will start trending soon, owing to its intuitiveness and personal touch. Further, it is quicker, and it replaces typing and keyboards.

Learn more - How Voice Search Will Change The Future Of SEO

Tell a story with a video

The attention span of people in general has become quite small. They want content that holds their chin in place but also does not drag on for too long. Videos are a good way to achieve both. They are very commonly used  for marketing and advertising purposes as well, but the main challenge is to make it full of content and information, yet condense it. Due to the pandemic, the trend that has set in is that, videos and ads have left the television space, and are moving on to computers, tablets, smartphones, Youtube, Social media handles, etc. - so we can expect to see a lot more of virtual reality, animation, live videos, 360-degree videos, and so on, in 2021.  As the world advances, people are becoming more and more tech-savvy, and they are on some device or the other, trying to catch up. These new methods will keep them further hooked.

Checkout 15 Smart Ways to Promote Your YouTube Videos

Influencer Marketing Revamped

The switch from offline to online will continue to happen for the foreseeable future. Though brands and businesses continue to find and apply new digital marketing strategies, adapt to new trends, and get their message across, loud and clear, they still want to organically connect to their audience. This is possible through influencer marketing, and brands will start giving that importance to this concept and use the influencer community to get their products  and brand message across to the unreachable segments. A healthy relationship between brand marketing, product marketing, and influencer marketing is expected to take over.

People believe more when they see and hear someone speak - visual and vocal reassurance is very personal and impactful, therefore, much more engaging.

Pocket your local audience with SEO

Increasing the search visibility for local businesses is definitely the in-thing these days, and it will start booming in no time. Hypertargeting allows for bringing in customers from communities or areas that are geographically restricted. By ranking higher on local searches, visibility is improved, plus credibility also increases. People are always looking for quick fixes. If something is not available at the nearest store, it is preferable to walk down to the next nearest. Hypertargeting allows people to do exactly that. It is time-saving from the customer’s perspective, and from the business’s perspective, it is beneficial because the online presence fetches them the required attention and audience.

Growth of in-game advertising

With people staying in, e-watching of sports has become even more common, and consequently, this has led to a spike in in-game advertising. Apparently, Gen Z indulges in a lot of esports, and because of the lockdown, others too are doing the same. The lockdown has contributed heavily to a rise in smartphone gaming. Mobile gamers ( around 57 percent) are okay with in-game advertising as long as they are allowed to play the games free of cost. Television is going down and online streaming is becoming more popular than ever. This exponential increase in the number of viewers has led to a healthy bond between gaming and advertising, and this is allowing brands to interact with the audience successfully.

It is interesting to note that all these trends have been fairly around for sometime now, dilly-dallying between becoming ‘generally known’ or ‘popularly used.’ The pandemic has helped with that super-nudge, thereby making these more popular than before, and also putting them on the path to becoming extremely popular. Had this been a choice, maybe the growth would have been a little slower; but with social distancing and lockdown, digitalisation is the need of the hour. Everything is happening online and therefore, people must know how to navigate through this world of digitalisation. The sooner, the better.

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Content creation and content sharing are widespread today. Everybody likes making their feed attractive and despite so many applications that are already present in the market, people are constantly looking for newer methods and ways to make their feed stand out in comparison to others. To keep up with these requirements several platforms have come into play to be able to reach out to specific audiences. These apps and platforms have also incorporated certain "desi" factors like Shayari, film dialogues, quotes, music, regional music, etc. Furthermore, the most essential point that has struck a chord with the people of India and certain brands is the use of regional languages. Accessibility is there, but reaching out becomes much more comfortable when one can understand what is being said and done. Below are five Indian apps that have carved out a position for themselves in the market:

ShareChat

Founded by Ankush Sachdeva, Farid Ahsan, and Bhanu Pratap Singh, ShareChat is a popular social media platform with around fifteen languages and over a hundred and sixty million users on a monthly basis. It was developed by Mohalla Tech Pvt. Ltd. This is a language first app that was launched initially for the purpose of content creation only, but with regular updates like private messaging, talking in one's own dialect, tagging, and Shake-N-chat, it now has many additional features catering to the requirements of the people. It has helped brands to tap into language-based advertising, and over the past couple of months, it has worked with over 25 brands like Facebook, Coca-Cola, Airtel, Pepsi, etc.

This app has more than 100 million downloads and over two million reviews on play store, apart from having an audience in more than 800 cities across the country. Its value stands at 600 million dollars. A person spends 23 minutes on this app on average.

Chingari

Founded by Sumit Ghosh, Biswatma Nayak, and Deepak Salvi, this application is an Indian video sharing service wherein people interact by sharing videos in more than 14 regional dialects. Based on how much traction a post receives, how viral it becomes, and the number of points scored, the content creators receive payments. ALTBalaji also came into a partnership with this firm to help this app gain the much needed outreach and attention. This app has also been rated as one of the best apps in Google Play Store, in 2020. It also supports the 'Make in India' program.

Chingari has literally lit a fire across the nation. It has more than 10 million downloads and over 201 thousand reviews on the play store. The likes and clicks on this platform shot up by 400 percent and 500 percent respectively within just a week's time.

Roposo

This app is owned by Glance Digital Experience Pvt. Ltd. It was released six years ago and primarily catered to a crowd between the ages of 15-35. People on this platform can share videos and pictures related to food, comedy, themselves, fashion, travel, and so on. Options are endless. One smart move by Roposo was to divide the entertainment section into categories wherein the users could pick and choose the kind of content they wanted to engage in. There is an array of filters to choose from for pictures, plus several options for videos like time-lapse, slow-mo, and so on. Roposo maintained a 'TV for the people' concept for users to switch through channels easily.

As of now, it has over 100 million downloads, one million reviews, and a user base of over 22 million people. Daily uploads happen at the rate of 2.5 lakhs, and video views cross 160 million on a regular basis. 

MX Takatak

MX takatak is a short video community app that has garnered much attention from the Indians and has resulted in a massive video community. This app too comes with the option of choosing a language (it has about 10 languages). It has more than 10 million active users daily, and almost every Indian spends at least 20 minutes on an average using this app. Videos have options ranging from dubbing, to comedy, to gaming, sports, food, memes, and much more. People love this app because it smartly caters to everyone's requirements - influencers, infrequent users, daily users, and so on. Further, this app includes options like Beauty Cam, Video Editor, Photo Editor, and Music Library.

This app has more than 50 million downloads and over 280 thousand reviews, around 600 influencers and well-known content creators, and more than 45 million active monthly users. It sure is a big hit in India.

Mitron

This is another Indian app, and this platform allows users to connect with each other and share content to showcase their talents and become the next 'Desh ka star.' This again is a social video community app that gives options of lip-syncing videos, dubbing videos, sing-alongs, funny dialogues, etc. It has 11 languages to choose from for the sake of convenience and has around 24 million hourly video views.

Apart from having a seed funding of Rs 20 million, it has more than 10 million downloads and 389 thousand reviews on play store. To date, the app has been downloaded more than 17 million times.

Many people around the world are developing apps for content creators and bringing in new ideas onto the plate to stay ahead of the competition. Creativity and imagination have no boundaries, and neither should the platforms that get to display them. Furthermore, these platforms can be used effectively by brands to reach out to their target audiences and run successful campaigns. That way, the methods will not remain restricted to just videos or content sharing but much more. High engagement will only ensure a bigger base and consequent success!

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Marketing is all about connecting with people and the message you are trying to get across to the masses. In today’s digital era, your best bet is digital marketing. Meeting customer needs digitally, having an online presence, organising campaigns - these steps can turn things around for brands. A well-planned strategy, proper use of media, and smart use of time can make all the difference for a brand with respect to presence, awareness, and image. Here are five in-house campaigns that we planned to help these brands stand out, garnering over 300 million views in totality, leaving a lasting impression.

Join the Revolt (Revolt Motors)

The purpose of this campaign was to introduce India’s first artificially-enabled motorcycle and create brand awareness for ‘Revolt.’ For this, people’s ideas and preconceived notions about electric vehicles had to be changed. Real-time marketing was used to churn out content and spread it across audiences by roping in influencers who spoke about environmental issues and concerns; witty t-shirt slogans like ‘why the fuel,’ ‘RIP Fuel,’ etc. were used - this was done to make people see that pollution masks and petrol will eventually become obsolete, and that the future of the nation lies in electric vehicles. 

The motorcycles were used as a symbol of revolt in #JointheRevolt campaign. A mega unveiling of the product was done in real-time, with YouTubers, Instagrammers, and influencers giving out vocal content. This was further amplified as people started raising back-to-back queries. For direct engagement with the crowd, setups were done in malls with stunt artists to grab the much-needed attention.

The results of this campaign were mind-boggling. Over 20,000 user-generated content was created; there were more than fifty videos with over 13 million views; website visits stood at an astounding 2.44 million, and the figures for content pieces generated was more than 5300.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8aYb-5f4FU&feature=youtu.be[/embed]

Roadies Live Audition (MTV Roadies)

Due to the coronavirus induced lockdown, there were budget cuts, sponsors were stressed to no end, and the drop in Share of Voice was almost unavoidable. However, entertainment was kept on a roll even post the lockdown announcement - for the first time ever in the world, reality show auditions were hosted online. MTV Roadies live auditions were hosted across platforms like Facebook, Tiktok, Youtube, and so on. Videos were recorded via Zoom, highlights were on Voot, and people could access these live auditions on their phones. Participants were seen going live on Facebook and performing tasks for their judges. In the time period between 2nd May 2020 and 26th June 2020, the live auditions reached as many viewers as 10 per cent of MTV’s television reach annually.

This campaign had a reach of more than 2 million, over 500,000 minutes views, and more than 64,000 engagement. About 17.5 crores worth of media mentions were also earned. 

The Neo Tribe (Amazfit India)

#Theneotribe campaign aimed at positioning the Amazfit Neo as a pocket-friendly and retro-styled watch. The hype and buzz were created by letting everyone know about this new neo tribe that was bringing retro back, but fashionably - a marriage of the retro-past with the retro-future. It was seen that with the introduction of pop culture and K-dramas, retro had become like a cult for today’s millennials, and that way, this watch was a great addition to their style statement. The main motive was to have a strong position in the market, increase visibility, and build advocacy for the watch. Influencers and KOLs were also taken on board to spread the message far and wide.

This campaign resulted in a PR reach of 0.99 billion, the value of which stood at about 63.4 million. It had 200,000+ engagements, over 6 million impressions, and the reach was more than 4 million.

Just EMI (Bajaj Finserv)

The concept here was quite simple. A lot of people prefer paying through monthly instalments also known as EMIs (or at least like to have it as an option). Bajaj Finserv has been synonymous with EMIs for quite some time now, and people usually associated the brand with electronics and lifestyle products. This campaign’s aim was to build awareness about products beyond these two categories, with Bajaj catering to 1000+ other categories. 

The strategy was to kickstart #JustEMI so that people would start using Bajaj Finserv cards as their go-to payment methods for whatever purchases they made. This was done through video-led social media marketing, influencer marketing, media, radio bytes, tech integrations, Public relations, and on-ground marketing. It was an interesting amalgamation of how the audience can use EMI cards, what products can be purchased via EMI, and a one-stop solution that showed EMI options across categories.

More than 200 videos were created, and over 60 influencers were activated for this campaign. There was a massive PR reach of over 241 million, over 1.6 million traffic, and transactions worth 33.7 million.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZB3f5P188c[/embed]

My Talking Tom Friends

This campaign aimed to launch My Talking Tom Friends as a cool and casual gaming app for the Indian audience apart from facilitating volume game downloads and promoting in-game experiences. Various social media platforms were used for this - Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter, Youtube, Tinder, etc. The primary strategy here was to create as much awareness as possible through videos, influencer marketing, and engaging content.

For this, nine influencers were brought in, and the content seeded stood at 25. There were 12 dedicated videos for this campaign, which garnered a colossal amount of views (12.7 Million+). Furthermore, engagements and impressions crossed 1.6 million and 0.6 million, respectively.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlXTtZeHDHY[/embed]

Unlike traditional marketing techniques and campaigns, digital marketing campaigns allow for real-time updates and results that enable us to plan our next move carefully. It is the best medium to connect with potential customers and clients on a global scale. To not use it would mean losing out on a host of golden opportunities. It definitely gives the much needed upper hand!

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E-commerce has been a game-changer during the Covid-19 pandemic as it has been constantly moulding itself into something new as per the changing requirements of the customers. Everyone has literally been cornered into choosing the online and digital mode. In these turbulent times, brands have been trying their absolute best to use this to their advantage and increase their visibility. 

Big online firms like Flipkart, Myntra, Snapdeal and Amazon clocked sales worth $1.3 B during the festive sales, that too within 4-5 days. A lot of demands poured in from tier 2 and tier 3 cities this time because many people moved back home from the metro cities to be with their families during the ongoing crisis. Further, in comparison to last year’s GMV which stood at $ 2.7 B, the GMV for the year 2020 has been estimated to touch a whopping $4 B. It is being assumed that home appliances and electronics have played a 25 per cent role in the overall GMV value.

Here are a few e-commerce campaigns that stood out during the year 2020:

HDFC Bank Festive Treats

HDFC Bank launched its second season of Festive Treats this year that had over a 1000 offers across categories. The bank tied up with several well-known brands such as Apple, Samsung, Suzuki and the likes, and doled out online, offline, and in-store offers. To reach out to tier 2 and the tier 3 markets, more than 2000 offers were designed to best suit the customers’ requirements.

A series of short films were shot with Sharman Joshi in regional languages to ensure ease of communication and greater outreach. The bank essentially wanted to make the customers believe that in spite of the pandemic, their outlook should be positive and that they should strive to live their lives as normally as possible. To show their support, HDFC Bank revamped its strategy and focused on safety and customer morale. People were constantly given the assurance that their financial needs would be well looked after.

Flipkart Big Billion Days

Flipkart’s campaign this year was engagement centric to the core. Their Big Billion Whatsapp bot was an excellent strategy to pull the crowd wherein the customers could meet Amitabh Bachchan virtually and play games and challenges which ultimately culminated in big discounts and offers. This bot was actively promoted across social media platforms and received active acknowledgement and engagement within no time. 

Another interesting strategy here was to use Whatsapp as the mode of communication. Consumers had the option to converse in either Hindi or English which made it all the more convenient. The customers also had a fun shopping experience as they could activate offers just by sending emojis. It is being said that Flipkart set the benchmark for e-commerce advertising with this campaign.

Amazon Great Indian Festival

Amazon‘s campaign was all about preparing together for the upcoming festivities. They launched a film series that captured the essence of happiness and bonding that happens in the background while we all gear up for the festive season. Another interesting element of their campaign was the Amazon Festive Yatra, which was a house on wheels concept that highlighted their local offerings via a multi-city tour. Instagram was used to give real-time pictorial updates on the yatra while contests took place over Twitter.

They kept the excitement going by sharing testimonials and behind the scenes work of their team that made the customers feel involved and in sync with their campaign. Influencers were used for various categories to push sales and there were back to back contests and offers that kept the customers engaged throughout.

Snap the Deal

Snapdeal’s campaign focussed on the variety and extent of products as well as the ease of accessibility that these products had via their online platform. They followed the theme of finding products at ‘the snap of a finger’ and also launched a film series highlighting the pocket-friendly prices at which they were selling products for day-to-day needs. 

Snapdeal predominantly used an all-rounder approach via YouTube, TV, radio, Tiktok, and Hotstar to reach out to their customers by providing eye-catching visual content that highlighted their products, quality and value pricing. The main idea here was to build a strong brand recall and better efficiency on digital platforms. They wanted to showcase how they can make things happen in a ‘snap’, and how their products cater to the middle-class online shoppers.

No more dekhte hain, OLX pe bechte hain

This campaign by OLX released an ad that gave the message that one should always sell their used products at the right time to be able to upgrade to better and newer ones. This video resonated so well with the audience that it created a mass appeal and crossed over 2 million views. 

The jingle, “Dekhte hai” for the advertisement was composed by Amit Trivedi. The campaign was cross-medium in nature as the ad itself was launched in 6 different languages apart from Hindi, thereby ensuring a 360-degree coverage.

Myntra Treasure Hunt

Myntra took its campaign a little further than the rest by launching a separate website that was dedicated to a full day treasure hunt contest. People playing the game had to cross seven levels by answering multiple-choice questions. Each correct answer fetched a unique code that took them one step closer to win exciting prizes. If all questions were answered correctly, then the customers were eligible to be a part of the Lucky Draw that had grander rewards to offer.

Twitter was used as the platform for conversation which started trending within fifteen minutes of the contest launch using the hashtag #MyntraTreasureHunt. It also generated over 89,420 tweets within the span of a single day.  Myntra’s follower growth on Twitter also went up by a good 10.25 per cent which has been its highest so far. 

IKEA Place Campaign

IKEA Place came up with the unique idea of virtually giving its customers a glimpse of the near future. It is an augmented reality mobile app that allows people to see what a particular product or a piece of furniture would look like in their houses before even purchasing it.

All a customer has to do is take a picture of the place where he or she wants to place the product, insert the product into the picture, and move it around to see where it looks the best. Using the 360-degree imaging method gives this app a very realistic touch. It also allows the user to save and share the pictures, or reserving them for purchasing later. The use of technology here has definitely improved the user experience of the customers by a fair margin.

All these campaigns just reiterate the fact that creativity and imagination have zero boundaries. It further tells us that E-commerce will have a very strong foothold in the future and will probably become as normal as the so-called “new normal”. It would be safe to say that now is the right time to go digital for good.

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‘Sales’ - the term that rings in the mind of business leaders and management professionals during the festive season in India. It is a multi-faceted street - brands come up with lucrative promotions, e-commerce platforms launch extravagant sales, and even banks offer purchase benefits to card-holders. All these combining factors lead to an increase in the purchasing power of end-consumers. Here are some vital factors to consider while planning out festive sales activities this Diwali season - 

The Impact of COVID-19

The role played by COVID-19 in transforming not just sales, but entire business processes as a whole has been well-documented. The initial stages were dark, however, resilient brands are seemingly adapting to the new normal, with most traditional norms obsolete now. At first, businesses with an online presence noticed a spike on these platforms, while the lockdown has resulted in growing e-commerce spikes of $52 billion. Another intriguing fact is that the Indian online market is expected to acquire 300-350 million new users by 2025 with the Gross Merchandise Value to also rise to $100-$120 billion in that period. The upcoming months will notice a deeper focus on experience-driven eCommerce since cut-throat competition will lead players to innovate. Related Article : Diwali: The Golden Season of E-Commerce

Prepare Your Marketing Blueprint 

The festive season in India is a great time to explore marketing avenues and to test the waters. This period is a great opportunity to plan new product launch campaigns on digital platforms to create a buzz when spending capabilities are at an all-time high. Similarly, based on what you have planned, it’s a good idea to integrate these marketing activities into your social media calendar as well as paid media ad structure well in advance to ensure smooth execution. It is equally important to make sure that all your resources in the marketing and sales department are well-aware of all the festive processes and campaigns that have been planned out to make the most of this period.

Provide A Seamless Mobile Experience 

Optimising your website with targeted banners, landing pages, and keywords for an array of platforms is a must. Creating personalised content - geared for the mobile phone since it is the preferred medium for users will help a great deal in converting users. An effective and sale mobile platform is the key to providing a frictionless platform. The content should be AMP optimised. AMP or Accelerated Mobile Pages is an open-source standard supported by Google. The aim of developing this standard was to optimise the loading speed of the webpages on mobile devices. AMP framework serves the mission “to provide a user first-format for web content”.

Increase Visual Experience 

With new developments in technology on a daily basis, it is no surprise that methods of content creation are transforming as well. It is estimated that online videos account for more than 70% of India’s total digital consumption, with streaming platforms and social media channels the popular mediums. Video-first strategies are proven methods to tap into customer intent and drive real, measurable results. Leveraging video content can help users intent through search queries, consumer buying patterns & journey, and targeting the right audience. Visual content can also be leveraged to augment e-commerce pages in the case of product information/tutorials. These elements are likely to facilitate users’ decision-making process.

Leverage Dynamic, Data-Driven Videos

Short, targeted, and informative video ads are dominating the paid media sphere. These highly relevant video ads if planned properly can be the trigger users need to make transactions. Similarly, brands can use live & contextual data triggers like in-store traffic via social ads to increase awareness & engagement. Personalised video content in the form helps build brand identity and engagement as it adds an emotional and personal touch to marketing strategies. Repeat-sales and customer loyalty can be maximised with a one-on-one personalised video approach. For example, Diageo created a unique personalised video experience for their customers, by enabling them to record their own bespoke video message for the recipient of a bottle of whisky.

Work On Digital Interaction 

While e-commerce has obviously become the norm today, most players are leveraging AR and VR to augment user experience by offering personal and life-like situations during the buying process. This helps recreate the charm of in-store shopping visits. Innovations such as AI can also be leveraged to automate image-detection, video-cropping, and stream adjustments while incorporating the upload & delivery performance.  AI also supports product recommendation functions as well as in the optimisation of personal portfolios. These personalised recommendations show relevant products to the relevant audiences hence making sales efforts more fruitful. Adopt a 360-Degree Marketing Approach An amalgamation of affiliate marketing and paid media helps in executing banner ads of special offers or promotions for an instant boost. In the wider scope of paid ads, social media and search engine efforts should be planned out well in advance in terms of budgets, tech support, and content requirements for smooth and timely execution. Social media channels with quirky and contextual graphics and copy help in user engagement and brand awareness - key supplements to sales during the festive period. Similarly, fan contests boosted by a micro-site can augment your festive efforts as well. Lastly, it is of great importance to make sure that each social media is aligned in terms of content with the same offers, tone, and call-to-action. Driving sales during the festive period is obviously the number one priority for all - however, to truly succeed, brands will have to explore different technologies and digital capabilities to make the most of e-commerce. A well-planned and integrated marketing approach covering elements such as social media, website optimisation, paid media, email marketing, amongst others is critical to elevate sales numbers. Related Article : Boost Festive Sales With AI Download the PDF version

With the festive period nearly here, brands must be eagerly anticipating the upcoming rush. E-Commerce is fundamentally indispensable now, with it being the preferred mode of business for most users. Embracing digital transformation and technology during the Diwali festive season, and making the most of them will be key to drive all business goals and objectives. Here is all you need to know about the role of e-commerce in the upcoming festive season in India. 

E-Commerce & Diwali 

This year’s festive season sale is expected to rack up gross sales of $7B, a massive spike of 75% compared to last year. As consumer preferences and habits have transformed in the last 6 months or so due to the pandemic, it is no surprise that e-commerce will continue to be the preferred medium for users keen to splurge this Diwali. This is further highlighted as e-commerce companies are expected to see a 50% jump in gross sales. These numbers are primarily down to the fact that the number of individuals using e-commerce has increased exponentially in the period offline retail was off the grid. Users who were not too accustomed to e-commerce had to familiarise themselves, and now prefer it for daily use. This year, there has been a rise of 160 million online shoppers, as opposed to 135 million of last year, with more than half of this spike arising from tier-2 cities.

Get Started With Google Shops

Google Shopping allows brands and consumers to interact with each other in a way that adds value to both entities’ experience. It allows consumers to browse, compare, and purchase physical products across different retailers without having to visit each individual brand’s website - saving time and offering a seamless shopping experience. It minimizes the need of third party platforms and since users don’t have to jump from one interface to another, its a much quicker process. How does Google Shopping work? Whenever you search an item, a ‘shopping’ tab pops up where you can browse across different brands. It integrates various elements such as  Shoppable Ads on Google Images, Showcase Shopping Ads, Smart Shopping Campaigns, and Shopping Actions.

Whatsapp Marketing For Business

E-commerce as a concept has evolved on so many different levels and will continue to do so for sure. A digital feature driving e-commerce at the moment is Whatsapp’s business marketing feature. It is estimated that 98% of messages on Whatsapp are open and read, with 80% of them opened within 3 seconds of being sent. Whatsapp business bots help facilitate quick and easy conversation with customers through an interactive & visual medium (images, videos, and short clips). Presence on Whatsapp adds an element of identity and personalisation above and beyond other social media platforms. Developing a Whatsapp strategy as a part of regular messaging marketing strategies is a great way to start. It helps identify purchase behaviour, buying patterns, and consumer tastes to deliver the ideal products to consumers. 

Leverage Facebook  & Instagram Shops 

Just like Whatsapp, even social media networks - notably Facebook & Instagram - have announced features to facilitate e-commerce on the platform. For example, brands can display a catalogue of products, allowing potential customers to view and then purchase them directly on Facebook or Instagram shop. These platforms also facilitate seamless two-way communication with users through Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram Direct. Another new feature includes the initiation of a Livestream where a product link can be selected within the live video to display an icon with a link to the product on the screen throughout. Facebook is also experimenting with ways to offer users rewards from brands they follow and interact with, through brand loyalty programmes. Similarly, Instagram shop allows users to shop from a brand’s Instagram account, or through its feed and stories. They can browse products, explore collections and purchase products - all through an app browser (no third party interference). E-commerce is evolving way beyond simple websites and applications, and exploring Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp is a sure shot way to make the most of digital platforms to drive online sales.

Dominate E-Commerce With Voice Search

Driven by such innovative technology, the capabilities of voice search personalizes the shopping experience to a whole new level. For example, voice assistants can help suggests products based on the past purchase patterns of the buyer. Similarly with voice assistants, collecting reviews and feedback from buyers is much more efficient. Voice integration facilitates a two-way communication process and encourages constructive feedback. Voice search is quick and efficient compared to manually browsing through vast catalogues. The average buyer types at the speed of around 30 to 35 words per minute, whereas a voice search processes close to 100 words per minute.  We are all well aware of how e-commerce is propelled by data-driven machine learning & artificial intelligence characteristics, and that holds true in the case of voice search as well. For example, while purchasing groceries, the voice assistant can suggest products that have previously been a part of your cart and are missing in the current list.

Create a High-Converting Landing Page 

A landing page is one of the most vital components of any website, in terms of converting page visits - and this holds even more value for e-commerce websites. Landing pages can be optimized and designed in order to cater to the festive mood and add some vibrance to a user’s experience. Users are often overwhelmed with excess overloads of information, which is why it makes sense to create a dedicated banner, crisp content, along with a call-to-action that helps communicate best site-wide offers. This section can even include high-quality images & testimonials to create appealing visuals using directional cues to guide users. Another essential cog of the success of a landing page is the integration of keywords. Landing pages can shoot up search engine rankings with the help of Google Keyword Planner. Targeted keywords can be used to boost rankings on the landing page highlighting the exclusive deals. With evolved buyer habits and preferences, e-commerce is here to stay. With the Diwali festive season upcoming, now is the time to explore digital transformation and technology to boost not only sales but brand presence and user engagement as well. Download the PDF version