Carat to launch a dedicated planning unit, Deep Blue, by Q1 ’06

Carat Media Services plans to launch a dedicated media planning unit in India by the first quarter of 2006. The division will be called Deep Blue.

The development was announced by Rob Kabus, executive vice-president, Carat, Asia Pacific, at a special session organised by Carat Media Services in Mumbai.

Kabus said, “The relationship between the consumer and the media has changed significantly over the years. Previously, it was the media that did the targeting, while now, it’s the consumers. Today’s consumers pick and choose what they want to see and for how long.”

He went on to highlight the Carat Deep Blue process of formulating the right media strategies for brands. “The first step, Engagement Brief, deals with understanding the current position of the brand and projecting the brand ambitions. The second step, Engagement Theme, studies the consumer and how he/ she thinks, feels and interacts with the brand. The last step, Engagement Plan, deals with the decision of using conventional/ non-traditional media with the help of various research tools,” said Kabus.

Explaining the methodologies in this context, he cited the example of the launch of the perfume brand, Curious, by Elizabeth Arden. The brand’s positioning revolved around Britney Spears, known for carving her own way in life. The brand identified its core TG (women under the age of 20, particularly teenagers). Curious then connected with its TG by using the tagline, ‘Do You Dare?’, thus leveraging on the insight that young girls love experimenting with things.

Also present at the session was Thomas Wong, regional director, North Asia, Carat Asia Pacific.

He said, “The old advertising model of interruption is being destroyed as is mass marketing. Media is highly fragmented today. In fact, even the retail environment forms a part of media and advertising.”

Talking on a futuristic note, Wong said, “Digital media is the future.” He predicted that 50 per cent of all media would be digital by 2007, which will grow to around 80 per cent by 2020.

Wong said that the biggest challenge for the media fraternity is talking to an ‘immunised’ consumer, who is constantly bombarded with messages. He added, “We are moving from reach and frequency to impact and involvement and from passive exposure to active engagement.”

Wong tried to dispel the popular notion that using multiple touch points automatically meant greater engagement. He predicted, “We are moving away from traditional media. In addition, the typical 30-second commercial will soon give way to ‘content’ advertising in India. In markets such as the US, this is already happening.”

He went on to cite the example of an Adidas commercial which featured the popular cartoon character, Scooby Doo, playing football with an animated star footballer, David Beckham, with the tagline, ‘Impossible is Nothing’.

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