Rewind back to the year 2004, digital media was the buzz word and talks of how it is influencing the media consumption and how it will rewrite the way media is spend, was everywhere. I was told by an industry veteran in a digital conclave, where we were discussing how media agencies don’t get the power of digital, that 18 months from now all this will change as we are approaching the tipping point for digital media. The tide was to turn in our favor.
We are in the year 2014, a lot has changed since then – the digital advertising spends has grown manifolds to over 2200 CR as of December 2013, we have many more options to spend our digital budget now from display to search to social marketing and there are as many generalist and specialist agencies in the industry. But has this growth been at the rate we expected or deserved?
In search of the tipping point for digital media there lie roadblocks:
The Approach: The approach to digital has always been the one which is half hearted, as it was and is always been considered as the medium of the future, by most. So advertisers and agencies flirt with the medium and tick mark it for the future.
The Complexity: Yes, digital advertising is a complex subject ; there are many factors that surround it. Hence the structure of the industry is also complex, making things further difficult.
What can change?
Everyone knows digital has the reach, and media consumption habits are shifting towards platforms like YouTube & other video platforms, where there are total over 54 million unique viewers per month and Facebook where there are about 90 million users spending more than 27 mins a day. But even now, at the time of allocating the marketing spends, digital comes at an after thought.
I do not watch television anymore, I catch up on my favorite programs on Youtube and Facebook or Twitter breaks important news. As for reach, these platforms would be as big as few television channels. The day when a YouTube or Facebook is compared to television channels when allocating budgets, we will see the difference.
How can it change?
Collective approach: Digital being a complex media cannot be handled as any other medium. It requires time. It is ever evolving and the parameters of a successful campaign keeps changing. It is easy to blame the agency or the platform used for not getting the expected success in the short period. It is really important to work together to dissect this complex medium to get maximum ROI from it. Just by adding digital as last minute frills won’t help, as then we are not unleashing the true potential power of the medium.
Integration: Digital strategies are usually thought separate from the overall marketing strategy, making it not part of the media mix. Many brands internationally have done this successfully where they have integrated digital in the overall strategy. When digital is the center point of your marketing strategy, you can’t really run away from not spending on it.
Creative talent: When you see the digital campaigns around you, you will mostly see campaigns that are mere replication of the offline campaign that the brand did. Developing or enabling creative talent that understand the technology is maybe one of the answers to getting things right in the first place.
These can be just few things that can set the ball rolling faster and I still believe the tipping point is near.
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If you found this article interesting you might like to read the earlier ones:
How we sold digital advertising wrong in India – highlighting the problems faced in selling digital advertising in India.
How we will sell digital advertising in India – talking about the future of digital advertising.
Deep Malhotra is the Founder and Managing Partner of Gemini New Media Ventures & Co-Founder of Gemideals.com and has earlier worked with Google, Myspace, Rediff and Onmag.com. Can be reached out at: Twitter: @DeepMalhotra / Linkedin: in.linkedin.com/in/deepmalhotra/ / Email: deep@imgemini.com