Can we expect advertising expenditures in India to stay on a growth trajectory notwithstanding the cash crunch evident in some sectors of the economy and the consequent cutbacks on ad spends?
India spends less than a third of one per cent of GDP on advertising, while developed countries do more than six times that. And if all the psephologists and market analysts are to be believed, this is India's decade and century. As far as advertising spends go, the only way is up. Sure, some sectors are feeling the pain, but that is also par for the course.
On the other hand, there are always new sectors being born and launched with much fanfare each year and a healthy number sustain themselves over the years. I think most brands would spend more if they listened to their trade partners and customers rather than their CFOs and economists.
What do you see as the biggest opportunities in the sector in the year ahead? Do you see marketers leveraging these opportunities?
The consuming classes of India are just about to wake up. The first motorcycle, the first fridge and washing machine, the first AC, the first LED TV – all these are yet to adorn the bulk of Indian homes. But the aspiration of the rising classes is now being matched by their incomes on the one hand and the affordability of these goods on the other. This in itself is a multi-ten thousand crore advertising opportunity.
Alongside this, we will see the development of more marquee properties like the IPL and KPL, which will provide emotionally charged eyeballs by the megaton to advertisers primed to spend on creating awareness and familiarity.
What challenges will marketers face in the year ahead?
The challenge I see is the time it takes for advertisers to wake up to all the waste in digital media. In recent times, we have read about the fraud perpetrated by a major publishing group on its advertisers globally for over seven years, no less. But this isn't the most egregious kind of waste, frankly. Even when the publishers deliver what they promised, based on metrics conveniently defined by them, brands are struggling to see value and efficiency over the medium term.
This has squarely to do with the fact that a lot of what masquerades as performance advertising is neither advertising nor does it perform any useful service for the brand. The equivalent of a shabbily dressed pedlar accosting you abruptly on street corners has miraculously gotten a lot of street cred, thanks to lots of cheap money as well as the black nature of the media. I'm waiting for more people to realise and blurt out that the emperor has no clothes on.
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