The Self-Driven Marketer

As the dust settles on some of the trends seen in the last two years, what have you observed as the changes that are here to stay in the long term?

Marketing is a field that is constantly changing as human behaviour evolves. Covid brought drastic changes. We were forced into doing things and behaving differently as we embraced a different world. Marketing also changed. We may see some reversal now but what remains constant is storytelling. We were telling stories then as well and now as well.

The new generation of consumers needs to be targeted with marketing methods that don't take conventional routes into account. We need to reach out to them in their language and in their way. 

While devising campaigns, what are some factors you keep in mind?

We work with a varied segment of companies ranging from FMCG, fashion, food and lifestyle. Most of these are national and some are limited to particular segments. We look at what the outcome and objective of the initiative will be. The marketing strategy should not just be based on trends alone. We map trends and divide the budget accordingly to the campaign needs. Sometimes there is no massive campaign, just influencer marketing. Then, most of the budget goes into creating content and pushing it to the right medium.

How are you seeing some of the companies you work with adopting newer technology?

Legacy brands and many regional brands are very far from some of the new technologies like mixed realities or metaverse. For them, this is only jargon. They are just getting started with digital, with ecommerce, with direct-to-consumer, and are figuring out how to make money from it. 

Our role is to educate the brand and give it some time to figure out what the strategy will be. Not all brands are going for new technologies. It’s not about the budget but the brand’s ability to pull off the work that some brands, Cadbury for example, had done. How many brands have this kind of reach or distribution? We have to see the company and sector. For instance, for real estate customers, we can create an augmented reality experience because it works in that sector. 

This being said, I believe that a large majority of brands are still figuring out how to get on the digital bandwagon. Many first-generation entrepreneurs of regional brands are still catching up. Brand managers are clueless and it’s all trial and error. Technology is changing faster than marketers are adapting to it and this gap must be filled. The tech is out there. Now it's about picking it up and making the story relevant to the brand and customer.