[Event Round Up] India Digital Summit 2021: Building Resilient Brands in the Era of Mobile

2020 was an unprecedented year for marketers, brands, and consumers across the world. This led to the world becoming a hyper-connected global village with increasing globalization and digital connectivity. And in this global village, there was one dominant device that changed the ways brands and consumers connect, interact and unite - mobile. In a mobile-first world order, only resilient brands are able to navigate, innovate and execute strategies that help them stay connected with the consumers by delivering what they need, in the moments of their need from where they are.

Now the question arises, how can we build resilient brands that stay nimble during unprecedented times? This blog covers a trialogue between Vasuta Agarwal, MD, Asia Pacific, InMobi, Jayesh Ullattil, VP & GM, India, InMobi, and Navin Madhavan, VP & GM, Growth Marketing Platforms, InMobi, where they discussed how marketers can build resilient brands in the era of mobile.

Decoding the Mobile-first Generation

Sharing her thoughts on the mobile-first world, Vasuta shared, “Across the globe, we have seen an increase in the usage of mobile, consumer spending on mobile, and increase in app downloads. Indian smartphone users have spent 3.5-4 trillion hours on mobile in 2020, averaging 4.2 hours per day per user. The world’s largest democratic country stands strong in terms of internet consumption, contributing to 25% of all new internet users across the globe.”

Bringing interesting insights to the table, Vasuta adds “We have seen the face of entertainment leaning majorly towards gaming apps. India, accounting for 1 out of 10 gamers in the world, has seen smartphones democratize the ecosystem, with 89% of India’s gamers using their smartphones.”

Speaking of how the attention spans of consumers have changed, Vasuta adds, “Short or bite-sized video is emerging as the connected consumer’s go-to solution for short attention spans. Short videos are the new source of news, entertainment, and respite for the always-on, connected Indian.”

Not just mobile usage, mobile shopping has grown leaps and bounds with 20% of new users added to the category of online shoppers during the lockdown, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Not only did more people start shopping online, but existing customers increased their online spending by 45%. This increase in inclination towards online shopping is proof of the fact that mobile reigns as the device of choice across the world.

The New Measure of Evolution: Digital Marketing Maturity

With unprecedented changes surrounding them, brands and marketers today are re-evaluating their strategies to not only survive but thrive in a post-COVID world.  What changes do brands need to bring their marketing to the new normal? The answer is Digital Marketing Maturity (DMM).

BCG states that DMM is an organization’s capacity to deliver seamless brand experiences and is characterized by four maturity levels: Nascent, Emerging, Connected, and Multi-moment.

Jayesh shared his thoughts on the state of marketing maturity for brands in India, saying, “According to our survey of senior marketing and media leaders from over 60 brands across India and Southeast Asia, we saw that brands were indeed short of walking the walk when it came to digital. As expected, e-commerce and BFSI segments lead the way when it comes to Digital Marketing Maturity, emerging as the more connected and multi-moment focused categories. Over close to half of the marketers surveyed characterize themselves in the Nascent or Emerging Stage, leaving a large room for growth.”

Speaking of the challenges in attaining DMM, Jayesh adds, “Data is the foundation for digital engagement and personalization, but many lack regular access to either data on customer-level purchase behavior or online metrics (such as clicks on websites, page views, and conversions). At this stage, a meaningful transition would be is to start building on first-party data. Furthermore, the journey should be towards building robust analytical capabilities that can turn data into plans, programs, and initiatives. Without such data-related capabilities, brands have little hope of reaching the next stage.”

Building Resilient Brands

Sharing his thoughts on building resilient brands, Navin states the importance of leveraging programmatic, mobile video, consumer intelligence, and much more to offer consumers a seamless brand experience.

Navin shared, “Today’s consumers learn, act and evolve at a pace that is too rapid for most marketers to even keep up with. The race to stay ahead among brands gives consumers more control of which brands they would want to engage with. As a result, we see siloes of data, that are difficult to comprehend and make sense out of. Hence gaining actionable insights from the data is always a challenge for marketers.

To solve this riddle, marketers must invest in consumer intelligence platforms that combine the offline and online data experiences of the consumer and provide insights that are actionable, real, and adds value to the touchpoints in the consumer journey. Backed by AI and ML technologies, these platforms provide a solid base for marketers to start with, first, second, and third-party data, and then move along each step of the consumer journey.”

Bringing to light the rise of video content Navin adds, “With new interests emerging in 2020, we saw consumption of videos rise on popular demand. This is a boon for marketers to tap into the video, gaming, and OTT space, the place where consumers already occupy. Looking at the potential of short, snackable videos, and OTT apps, it is imperative for marketers to launch mainstream advertising in these apps and deliver immersive video experiences.”

Speaking on the state of programmatic, Navin adds, “With tons of new interests arising, programmatic still remains the constant in the new mobile-world order. With this being said, brands must leverage programmatic to partner with demand-side platforms for transparency, curate mobile supply chain frameworks, and prepare for a cookie-less future by partnering with premium in-app exchanges.”

To dive into more nitty-gritty details, watch the webinar here. Read interesting mobile insights from our 2021 India Mobile Marketing Handbook – Marketing in the Era of Mobile.