Digital is the new normal for marketing, says CII-KPMG Report

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and KPMG in India have just unveiled a report titled 'Digital - The New Normal of Marketing', at the CII National Marketing Summit. This report provides information on Indian digitisation, and the shift from traditional to digital marketing.

The report estimates that India is one of the fastest growing advertising markets globally with an estimated growth of 15.5 per cent in 2016, driven by a large consumer base and a burgeoning e-commerce industry. Although the share of digital advertising spend remains low at 12.7 per cent in 2016, it is one of the fastest growing mediums at an expected CAGR of 33.5 per cent (2015-2020), set to cross INR 255 billion in 2020.

"The post-demonetisation days have clearly showed how the country is set to leapfrog a few stages to embrace the power of digital. Mobile is being rapidly adopted, and marketers have an incredible opportunity to enhance the game of digital communication and deliver great customer experiences at each point of the journey," says Thomas Varghese, chairman, CII national committee on marketing and chief executive officer - textile business, Aditya Birla Group.

As per the report, connected devices, smarter devices and 'hyper-relevant rich content' will drive consumption for the consumer, and marketers will be well served if they are able to ride this data wave and use technology to build analytical models. It adds that the digital marketer will be responsible to deliver a distinctive consumer experience using various channels - thus making his role a key contributor to the overall omni-channel experience.

The report also gives insights into nascent technologies like emotions analytics and predictive marketing.

"There have been silent and not so silent changes around us that are changing the way marketing will be done. With the internet becoming all pervasive, it has become so integral to our lives that it has literally disappeared. Singularity, connected systems, cognition and AI will create a world where the marketer will be marketing not only to humans but the 'self-thinking' machines," says Rachna Nath, partner and head, digital consulting, KPMG in India.

"Digital marketing is more about big data and technology innovation rather than conventional marketing. Marketers will have to look at the consumer as a living sensor that creates data. Insights on consumer behavior will drive the next big innovation on the campaign. Success will depend upon how the digital marketer is able to drive differentiated strategies for each digital channel and eventually converge on consumer experience," says Aditya Rath, partner and lead for digital customer, KPMG in India.

Other key findings and suggestions presented in the report are:

Video is the new data format. The digital consumer's attention span has now come down from 12 seconds in 2007, to 8 seconds in 2016. Marketers are expected to direct their content strategists to curate short videos that create a greater impact on the consumer's mind while holding their attention till the end. Live streaming videos are interactive, immersive and cost-effective.

Omni-channel experiences and touch points are essential in the digitally charged marketplace. Healthcare, automotive, insurance, retail and manufacturing companies are experimenting with various IoT use cases to enhance the consumer experience.

Wearables provide a new dimension from a data perspective. Through galvanic skin sensors and gyroscopes that are in-built in these devices, marketers can continuously monitor a customer's physiological and behavioural data.

Authenticity, relevance, and value are increasingly important parameters for content creation and distribution. Customers trust user-generated content and give more weightage to peer recommendations and reviews than professionally curated content.

Native ads are being used increasingly to combat mobile and desktop ad blocking. These blend in and appear as content that would normally deliver value and relevance to the consumer and do not hinder user experience of the website even while monetising.

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