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Tag: L’Oreal

  • Advertisers weigh in on effectiveness of BARC’s integrated TV plus OOH measurement

    Advertisers weigh in on effectiveness of BARC’s integrated TV plus OOH measurement

    MUMBAI: In a significant move, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India recently announced the integration of TV and out-of-home (OOH) TV viewership in its media workstation software. The decision will allow BARC India subscribers to get a comprehensive understanding of the overall viewership.

    Brands and marketers have welcomed the move for the viable opportunities it can create. However, a few of them point out that such ratings will be impactful only during big-ticket event-based OOH viewing.

    Dentsu Aegis Network CEO greater south and chairman and CEO of India Ashish Bhasin is of the view that it will help marketers in making more informed decisions. He says, "I believe it is a step in the right direction. A lot of TV viewership, particularly around sporting events like IPL, happens outside of homes and the more research that we can get, the more clarity of data we can get, the more it helps the medium and also helps in making more informed choices."

    L'Oreal head of media Neel Pandya feels that while it is too early to tell how the policy will fare, it is going to be interesting to see how the advertising culture will evolve accordingly. He says, “It’s a great move by BARC to include out of home TV viewership as a part of its offering. Over the years, the only large media available for mass audience have been TV and OOH. As urban India is spending more time out of their homes on weekends, this service will enable marketers to get a holistic picture of the audiences’ TV viewing habits. OOH is an attractive proposition nowadays, leading to its extensive use and a boom of OTT players in the country. The only hurdle for large advertisers to invest heavily in OOH is its measurement system. While it’s too early to tell, it will be interesting to see how advertising evolves to capture the attention of increasing OOH TV viewing audiences.”

    The service will allow broadcasters and advertisers to uncover more value and insights into TV-viewing behaviours, both inside and outside the home. The data will also be available in the planning module for agencies to plan effectively and account for this audience.

    RSH Global CMO Poulomi Roy is of the view that the integrated ratings will help the marketers during event-based properties like IPL but otherwise the impact is going to be negligible. She says, “Big ticket media properties like IPL & World Cup which have a homogeneous group of people with common sentiments viewing together will show better reach and hence, marketers who spend on these properties will get affected in a positive way. However, it is important to know the sample size and coverage area and lastly how the data will be interpreted. Barring these days when such properties are not airing, the impact of these measurements is negligible because for a consumer it will be forced viewing of whatever is served by the social hotspots.”

    KMPG India partner and head, media and entertainment Girish Menon thinks that while the intent behind the decision is very good, one needs to think through how the measurement metric will work to cover a large number of people who will be watching at one place along with demography of those viewers.

    He says, “The way we need to look at out of home viewing is in two types. One is event-related viewing, mostly relevant to sports, and the other is consumption in the hotel. For an event-based viewing, for example, if you go to a restaurant, 50 people might be watching (from one screen). How do you really measure the number in such case? If you look at hotels, that model is very different. There is a reasonable chunk of the transient population that means, a person either flips through channels to pick up something interesting or typically goes to his favourite channel. Either way, it is not appointment viewing. But at least brand loyalty will have a larger play. So, therefore it is slightly more advantageous to larger and more well-known channels. There we benefit at the channel level, not necessarily at the programme level.”

    Menon says that the way advertising works in India is ratings-based in terms of reach, people and demography. “Essentially, it will add to those ratings. Therefore from an advertiser’s perspective, it is a little bit better because it expands the population the advertisers will be able to target. But at the end of it, it benefits the advertisers like all other measurement systems.”

    BARC had started the OOH TV viewership management in 2018, in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. The council has also announced the expansion of this service to 120+ urban towns as well. This also comes at a time when BARC India has expanded its panel to 40,000 metered homes within the committed timeline of March 2019

  • Enough potential in urban India before going rural: L’Oréal Paris

    MUMBAI: It was 1993 when French beauty brand L’Oréal Paris made its way to India. An instant hit with the newly privatised economy, the brand has been a favourite of Indian women in the ensuing two decades.

    Considered as a young player in India’s cosmetics market, L’Oréal is the fastest-growing beauty company in the company with an annual average of 30.2 per cent and has representation in over 800,000 points of sale. It is the third leading operator in the Indian cosmetics market with a 10 per cent market share in the urban areas, claims the company.

    The beauty and personal care market in India is valued at Rs 81,000 core. The India revenue of L’Oreal, according to industry estimates, is currently Rs 3,000-3,500 crore a year. In order to cater to the Indian market optimally, the cosmetics group has, over the years, launched several brands across various product categories.

    In order to be up-to-date, L’Oréal follows a combination of traditional and new-age media for marketing and advertising. L’Oréal Paris general manager Raagjeet Garg says that the company looks at television, digital, social media platforms, digital videos, outdoor and other BTL media to connect with consumers.

    The brand invests heavily on marketing every year and the number is only increasing yoy to ensure it reaches a wider number of consumers and with a differentiated campaign. Going forward, the company will look at creating more India-specific products.

    L’Oréal is trying to shake off the luxury brand image. As a matter of fact, its products start at Rs 3 (for a sachet of shampoo).

    In interior India, the brand faces stiff competition from local products but the brand is still pursuing urban consumers since the saturation point hasn’t yet been hit. Garg says, “There is enough potential to get enough consumers in the urban population before we start targeting the rural areas. The objective eventually will be to speak to as many consumers as possible but that will happen in a phased manner and we want to get the urban and tier 1, tier 2 markets first and then talk about the rest of the consumers around the country.”

    The L’Oréal Paris brand encompasses the four major beauty categories — hair colour, cosmetics, hair care, and skin care — and includes brands as Excellence Crème, Total Repair 5 hair care, Pure Clay masks, White Perfect, Fall Repair, Revitalift, Volume Million Lashes mascara, Color Riche lipsticks, Superliners and True Match foundations among many others.

    With its signature phrase, “Because We’re Worth It”, the brand wants to inspire women to embrace their own unique beauty and reinforce their sense of self-worth.

    India being a strategic country for L’Oréal international, it picked the right A-list Bollywood actresses as brand ambassadors – Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. These women encompass a wide range of target audiences in terms of age group and lifestyle.

    The brand also recently celebrated 21 glorious years as the official make-up partner for the Festival de Cannes. Garg says, “I think if the relationship is beautiful, you just want to nurture the relationship and that’s exactly what we do with Cannes. Each year we realise it is only getting better and better.”

    The Cannes Film Festival will take place from the 8 to 18 May where Padukone will be walking the red carpet for the second time along with Rai-Bachchan, who will be completing 17 years at the festival. Kapoor will be seen for the eighth time at Cannes along with other spokespersons including Julianne Moore, Helen Mirren and Doutzen Kroes.

    Garg pointed out that Cannes association is not ROI driven or to create brand visibility but rather to democratise that beauty is for everyone. The company will soon be making its Cannes collection available at its L’Oréal Paris counters and some e-commerce sites in India.

    Also Read :

    Mirza and the art of brand endorsement

    The comeback of iconic brands

    Unibic makes a dent in the cookie segment

    RAW Pressery working on slow but steady expansion

  • Housejoy celebrates all generations of women through its digital campaign

    Housejoy celebrates all generations of women through its digital campaign

    MUMBAI: For the grandmother who oiled our hair, the moms who made sure our dresses were ironed, the aunts who taught us how to wear make-up and the older sisters who took us for our first hair appointment, Housejoy’s latest digital campaign addresses how easily one can book a Housejoy beauty service and enjoy it at the comfort of their home.

    Housejoy marketing head Nikhil Kumar, “Beauty is one of our top home services categories and it brings us immense pleasure to provide these services to our women consumers, of all ages, at just the click of a button. In our endeavour to showcase how convenient it is to order beauty services at home anytime of the day and for any of your dear members of the family, we initiated this campaign – “Pamper the Women Who Pampered You.”

    The average Indian woman is a veracious multi-tasker. From juggling work, family, friends, an active social life to pursuing her hobbies and interests, rarely does she get to catch her breath. But, somewhere, amid all the noise, her own grooming needs get ignored. Whether its tending to urgent “brow” situations to a relaxing mani-pedi session, the joy of being and becoming beautiful has been lost somewhere. Here is Housejoy, which allows you to book an appointment through Housejoy app or website and get your beauty expert home to pamper you. One can get all kinds of beauty services sitting at home. Housejoy gives undivided attention from the beautician, to immerse herself in a salon experience, all without even stepping out.

    Housejoy is the first and only brand to introduce early morning beauty services in the city of Mumbai. A lot of women require beauty services before they leave for work and all salons open only after 10 am which leaves them struggling. Housejoy has launched a 7 ambeauty service and has received a tremendous response from all women.

    Housejoy sends their beautician team in cabs to their clients to assure their safety and convenience. Housejoy uses beauty products from L’Oreal, SeaSoul and Christine Valmy. All the beauticians are L’Oreal and SeaSoul trained.

  • Housejoy celebrates all generations of women through its digital campaign

    Housejoy celebrates all generations of women through its digital campaign

    MUMBAI: For the grandmother who oiled our hair, the moms who made sure our dresses were ironed, the aunts who taught us how to wear make-up and the older sisters who took us for our first hair appointment, Housejoy’s latest digital campaign addresses how easily one can book a Housejoy beauty service and enjoy it at the comfort of their home.

    Housejoy marketing head Nikhil Kumar, “Beauty is one of our top home services categories and it brings us immense pleasure to provide these services to our women consumers, of all ages, at just the click of a button. In our endeavour to showcase how convenient it is to order beauty services at home anytime of the day and for any of your dear members of the family, we initiated this campaign – “Pamper the Women Who Pampered You.”

    The average Indian woman is a veracious multi-tasker. From juggling work, family, friends, an active social life to pursuing her hobbies and interests, rarely does she get to catch her breath. But, somewhere, amid all the noise, her own grooming needs get ignored. Whether its tending to urgent “brow” situations to a relaxing mani-pedi session, the joy of being and becoming beautiful has been lost somewhere. Here is Housejoy, which allows you to book an appointment through Housejoy app or website and get your beauty expert home to pamper you. One can get all kinds of beauty services sitting at home. Housejoy gives undivided attention from the beautician, to immerse herself in a salon experience, all without even stepping out.

    Housejoy is the first and only brand to introduce early morning beauty services in the city of Mumbai. A lot of women require beauty services before they leave for work and all salons open only after 10 am which leaves them struggling. Housejoy has launched a 7 ambeauty service and has received a tremendous response from all women.

    Housejoy sends their beautician team in cabs to their clients to assure their safety and convenience. Housejoy uses beauty products from L’Oreal, SeaSoul and Christine Valmy. All the beauticians are L’Oreal and SeaSoul trained.

  • NDTV & L’Oreal partner for Women of Worth 2016 Awards

    NDTV & L’Oreal partner for Women of Worth 2016 Awards

    MUMBAI: NDTV has partnered with L’Oréal Paris for the Women of Worth 2016 awards to recognise and celebrate unsung women from different categories. 

    The awards felicitates the achievements of ordinary women who have achieved extraordinary success in making a difference to the lives of others through their bravery, convictions and drive.

    L’Oréal Paris brand ambassador Sonam Kapoor graced the occasion and unveiled the award trophy. Jury members across the eight different categories as well as the four nominees in each of the categories were unveiled.

    Introduced by L’Oréal Paris India in 2012, the awards also epitomise the brand’s tagline ‘Because You’re Worth It.’

    The jury for this year’s award includes personalities like Rajya Sabha member Anu Aga, Indian Angel Network and NASSCOM co-founder Saurabh Srivastava, Supreme Court senior advocate Dr. Pinky Anand, Wildlife Conservationsit Belinda Wright, Kathak danseuse Shovana Narayan, Centre for Social Research Dr. Ranjana Kumari and L’Oréal India VP marketing Manashi Guha.

    The different categories are from an array of fields like sports, business and enterpreneuralship, literature, artistic, social impact, education, science and inventions.

    L’Oréal Paris India VP marketing Manashi Guha said, “Women of Worth Awards is philanthropically a huge initiative undertaken by the brand to strongly support the extraordinary contribution made by Indian women in their respective fields. These awards are our small way to distinguish the achievements of such women who embody the spirit and values of the L’Oréal Paris brand. It is the ideal platform for us to salute them and a matter of pride for us to associate with NDTV, who also believes in empowering women.”

    The campaign will end in March 2016 through a public voting system in conjunction with jury inputs. A transparent and well-structured voting system for the public will be set up to ensure that the most deserving nominees win. The nominees will be awarded the Women of Worth titles in Mumbai on 28 March, 2016.

    Extending her support to the awards, L’Oréal Paris brand ambassador Sonam Kapoor said, “It’s an honor to be a part of this amazing campaign and the Women of Worth awards that is the brainchild of L’Oréal Paris. The brand has always celebrated the strong spirit of women, and these awards are a perfect way to admire and thank these accomplished women who represent the changing face of modern India. With their unwavering passion, determination, selfless contribution and ability to pursue their dreams, they are a true inspiration and I’m extremely happy to be in the presence of such great Women of Worth.”

    The nominees have been shortlisted after an extensive research process while identifying each one’s key contribution in their respective fields. It took the panelists roughly three hours to decide on the nominees for each category. 

    NDTV CEO Vikram Chandra added, “Women empowerment is a cause NDTV has firmly believed in. NDTV has passionately felt about women and their issues from the time we have started. The number of issues taken up by us has been increasing. I think it’s a part of our DNA. We have a high packed jury consisting of some of the prominent names from the field. The Women of Worth initiative to honor real women from different walks of life is an excellent platform to discuss the issues faced by them and find solutions for the same. Extraordinary women are emerging as the real she-roes with their grit and determination. We really hope that through this association, NDTV & L’Oréal become the voice to encourage more women to make a significant difference in our society.”

    On International Women’s Day, 8 March, 2016, a conclave with opinion leaders, Women of Worth 2016 jury members, spokespersons from L’Oréal Paris and NDTV will be organised to discuss a range of subjects impacting the evolving role of women in India and issues impacting society.

  • NDTV & L’Oreal partner for Women of Worth 2016 Awards

    NDTV & L’Oreal partner for Women of Worth 2016 Awards

    MUMBAI: NDTV has partnered with L’Oréal Paris for the Women of Worth 2016 awards to recognise and celebrate unsung women from different categories. 

    The awards felicitates the achievements of ordinary women who have achieved extraordinary success in making a difference to the lives of others through their bravery, convictions and drive.

    L’Oréal Paris brand ambassador Sonam Kapoor graced the occasion and unveiled the award trophy. Jury members across the eight different categories as well as the four nominees in each of the categories were unveiled.

    Introduced by L’Oréal Paris India in 2012, the awards also epitomise the brand’s tagline ‘Because You’re Worth It.’

    The jury for this year’s award includes personalities like Rajya Sabha member Anu Aga, Indian Angel Network and NASSCOM co-founder Saurabh Srivastava, Supreme Court senior advocate Dr. Pinky Anand, Wildlife Conservationsit Belinda Wright, Kathak danseuse Shovana Narayan, Centre for Social Research Dr. Ranjana Kumari and L’Oréal India VP marketing Manashi Guha.

    The different categories are from an array of fields like sports, business and enterpreneuralship, literature, artistic, social impact, education, science and inventions.

    L’Oréal Paris India VP marketing Manashi Guha said, “Women of Worth Awards is philanthropically a huge initiative undertaken by the brand to strongly support the extraordinary contribution made by Indian women in their respective fields. These awards are our small way to distinguish the achievements of such women who embody the spirit and values of the L’Oréal Paris brand. It is the ideal platform for us to salute them and a matter of pride for us to associate with NDTV, who also believes in empowering women.”

    The campaign will end in March 2016 through a public voting system in conjunction with jury inputs. A transparent and well-structured voting system for the public will be set up to ensure that the most deserving nominees win. The nominees will be awarded the Women of Worth titles in Mumbai on 28 March, 2016.

    Extending her support to the awards, L’Oréal Paris brand ambassador Sonam Kapoor said, “It’s an honor to be a part of this amazing campaign and the Women of Worth awards that is the brainchild of L’Oréal Paris. The brand has always celebrated the strong spirit of women, and these awards are a perfect way to admire and thank these accomplished women who represent the changing face of modern India. With their unwavering passion, determination, selfless contribution and ability to pursue their dreams, they are a true inspiration and I’m extremely happy to be in the presence of such great Women of Worth.”

    The nominees have been shortlisted after an extensive research process while identifying each one’s key contribution in their respective fields. It took the panelists roughly three hours to decide on the nominees for each category. 

    NDTV CEO Vikram Chandra added, “Women empowerment is a cause NDTV has firmly believed in. NDTV has passionately felt about women and their issues from the time we have started. The number of issues taken up by us has been increasing. I think it’s a part of our DNA. We have a high packed jury consisting of some of the prominent names from the field. The Women of Worth initiative to honor real women from different walks of life is an excellent platform to discuss the issues faced by them and find solutions for the same. Extraordinary women are emerging as the real she-roes with their grit and determination. We really hope that through this association, NDTV & L’Oréal become the voice to encourage more women to make a significant difference in our society.”

    On International Women’s Day, 8 March, 2016, a conclave with opinion leaders, Women of Worth 2016 jury members, spokespersons from L’Oréal Paris and NDTV will be organised to discuss a range of subjects impacting the evolving role of women in India and issues impacting society.

  • WPP’s Grey Group acquires majority stake in S Korean digital agency

    WPP’s Grey Group acquires majority stake in S Korean digital agency

    MUMBAI: WPP’s wholly owned company Grey Group has acquired a majority stake in Vinyl I-Co. Ltd., a creative digital agency based in Seoul, South Korea.

     

    Established in 2000, Vinyl-I has evolved from a web/UX design agency to an award-winning full service digital advertising agency which incorporates new media technology to enhance the user experience, especially in the area of interactive design.

     

    Vinyl-I clients include GS Shop, Intel, L’Oreal, Lotte, Microsoft, Naver, Nike, Samsung, SK Telecom, and SM Entertainment.

     

    For the year ending 31 December, 2014, Vinyl-I reported gross revenue of KRW 12.8 billion, with gross assets of KRW 4.2 billion, as at the same date. The agency employs more than 70 people.

     

    This acquisition marks a further step towards WPP’s declared goal of developing its networks in fast growing markets and sectors and strengthening its digital capabilities.

     

    WPP’s digital revenues were $6.9 billion in 2014, representing 36 per cent of the Group’s total revenues of $19 billion. WPP has set a target of 40-45 per cent of revenues to be derived from digital in the next five years.

     

    In South Korea, WPP companies (including associates) generate revenues of over $300 million, while in the Asia Pacific region, the figure stands at $5 billion.

  • JWT acquires minority stake in Turkey’s Wanda Digital

    JWT acquires minority stake in Turkey’s Wanda Digital

    MUMBAI: J. Walter Thompson Company has acquired a minority stake in Turkish digital agency Wanda Digital.

     

    Founded in 2006 and employing 80 people in Istanbul, Wanda’s clients include Turkcell, L’Oreal, Nestle and Unilever.

     

    Wanda offers a range of services including campaigns, social media, platform development and games and apps.

     

    The agency’s unaudited net sales for the year ended 31 December, 2014 were approximately $ 3.4 million, with gross assets at the same date of approximately $ 2.3 million.

     

    Following the transaction, Wanda and J. Walter Thompson’s local office, Manajans J Walter Thompson Turkey, will operate independently, but jointly invest in new technology and innovative projects.

     

    Since 2010, Manajans J. Walter Thompson Turkey has tripled its revenues and won over 40 awards including the “Global Smarties” in 2014.

     

    Turkey is one of the Next 11 growth economies where WPP companies (including associates) generate revenues of over $1 billion and employ over 10,000 people. In Turkey itself, WPP companies (including associates) generate revenues of around $120 million and employ approximately 1,300 people.

  • Missed call from FB will accelerate digital engagement: Valerie R Wagoner

    Missed call from FB will accelerate digital engagement: Valerie R Wagoner

    It was in April that Facebook announced that it had 100 million active users in India, and was aiming at touching the one billion landmark. The social networking site which now has an established subscriber base, is looking at launching more ad inventories. The latest from its kitty is the missed call ad product, which according to Facebook has already started generating some buzz.  

     

    The announcement of this new ad format had come at a time when Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg was visiting India hobnobbing with government officials, and small and medium business owners.

     

    Facebook has partnered with ZipDial, a Bangalore based mobile agency for this. Indiantelevision.com’s Priyanka Nair speaks to ZipDial founder and CEO Valerie R Wagoner at length to understand the mobile marketing ecosystem in India, partnership with Facebook, the agency’s journey and much more.

     

    How has marketers’ demand from mobile marketing changed in recent years? 

     

    In emerging markets where the vast majority of consumers are still not online and still pay for things in cash, there is exceptionally little data on consumers and their preferences and behaviours. However, only this year, marketers we work with, are ready to embrace a comprehensive data strategy.

     

    Four years ago at the end of 2009 when we started ZipDial, marketers were barely getting comfortable with using the mobile at all, and it was an era of small experiments. By around two-three years ago in early 2012, using the mobile for media activations had become an industry standard. By now, marketers are truly embracing both, bridging offline-to-online consumer experience over the long-term, and driving a real business impact from data and analytics.

     

    You have been in the business for four years. How were the initial days?

     

    The idea for ZipDial was born from a brainstorming session between Sanjay Swamy (now chairman of ZipDial) and me on a late night flight back to Bangalore from New Delhi. Over next couple months, we fine tuned the idea further with as many as 600 varied user cases.

     

    The idea just stuck, and within a few more weeks, we had launched a minimum viable product. I think the ideation and execution happened within a short time. But ideas are cheap. Anyone can have an idea. To be really successful, an entrepreneur has to be great at execution, to think strategically about how to drive real inflection points in the business, and have the stamina to see through. What was launched as a mere polling product, over time transformed into a full-fledged mobile marketing and analytics platform.

     

    ZipDial founder and COO Amiya Pathak and the tech brain created a prototype during IPL 2010 wherein users could give a missed call and get live cricket scores. With zero marketing, within a couple of months, millions of users were zipdialing millions of times a day. It took off completely word-of-mouth. That was the first sign of success. Shortly thereafter we cracked P&G Gillette as our first big client, and we never looked back.

     

    How did you partner with Facebook? Can you elaborate on how the partnership will work?

     

    We launched the Facebook-ZipDial missed call ad product with Facebook as its partner for emerging markets (only company in the world). We collaborated and drove conception, design, development, sales, and analytics. In fact, given that the vast majority of the engagement happens on ZipDial after the user clicks on the Facebook ad, we have a lot of interesting data comparing performance across different media as well as performance between Android and feature phones.

     

    The purpose of the Facebook-ZipDial ad product is to create online-to-offline engagement and driving results. Facebook can track to the level of a click and online engagement. Upon user dialing, ZipDial takes over the consumer experience to drive actual outcomes in the offline world via retargeting, for example reminders to the user encouraging them to buy a product, visit an outlet, watch a particular TV channel, download particular content or an app, etc. Everything is 100 per cent permission-driven by the user and is targeted to them.

     

    We also need to track performance of Facebook v/s other media channels because ZipDial integrates across all media channels, including print, TV, OOH, and non-Facebook digital ads. We can track which media drives higher RoI for the advertiser.

     

    To put this in simple words, Facebook is the media where the ad is displayed. The user clicks on the ad. As soon as the user responds to the ad, it bridges from Facebook into a 100 per cent ZipDial experience.

    Coca-Cola (Coke Studio), L’Oreal (Garnier Men), P&G (Gillette), Mondelez (Cadbury Dairy Milk), Disney Channel and Nestle are a few campaigns that have used the inventory so far.

     

    We also need to give a performance analysis across media. This includes results from analysing the cost effectiveness of each media in terms of driving unique user acquisition. The metric used is user acquisition cost = spend on media / number of unique users who engaged from that media, averaged across all client campaigns.

     

    It can be noted that digital (including Facebook and non-Facebook digital) performed 10.40 times better than print and Facebook performed 3.02 times better than non-Facebook digital ads.

     

    How does the Garnier Men campaign for which Facebook has partnered with you work?

     

    Garnier Men had been for long planning to run a campaign with ZipDial for print and digital media. ZipDial designed and implemented the campaign on the platform in order to drive engagement with brand content around IPL 2014. The ZipDial campaign for Garnier Men was planned well in advance.

     

    Luckily the Facebook-ZipDial product was launched in time such that Facebook could also become part of L’Oreal’s marketing plan for the Garnier Men campaign. The results have been phenomenal with the Facebook-ZipDial ad performing 16 times better in terms of RoI than the same ZipDial integration with Garnier’s Print Ads.

     

    What according to you makes a campaign hit on mobile?

     

    There are many reasons. But, one of the major reasons is that today almost 100 per cent of all emerging market consumers have mobile phones. There is an ease of use in the design format that makes it a single click transition from online to offline in a seamless and user-friendly manner.

     

    Mobile is the unique ID for the customer. Even when consumers bridge from the on-Facebook experience to an offline experience such as watching a TV show or purchasing a product, there can be an offline-engagement in a targeted way.

     

    What are the key things that brands should keep in mind to build a healthy social conversation? 

     

    We strongly believe in the six best practices for social and mobile activations. One, know your customer; a visit from an anonymous user is not enough. All engagement should be verified and known-user engagement so that the brand can personalise the experience later.

     

    Two, don’t lose your customer, use re-targeting and follow-up engagement, don’t just make it a one-off transactional experience. However, never ever spam your consumers, and always make the experience permission-driven and privacy protected. Three, there is simplicity in the call-to-action, do not overwhelm consumers with too many options. Give them one single compelling message and way to engage.

     

    Four, there is multiplicity after the call-to-action. Target your response to users on a personalised basis in terms of content and interface. No two users with different profiles should receive the same content/interface. Five, it allows to measure your media. Never run a campaign without the ability to track and measure response rates and RoI. This applies across all digital and traditional channels, including print, television, etc.

     

    Six, every media can go viral, including offline. Never miss an opportunity for a viral campaign. ZipDial achieves between 60-400 per cent increase in reach of media through viral campaigns even when the only media used is offline traditional media. This improves RoI immensely.

     

    Mobile being a personal medium, there is a lot that a brand needs to keep in mind before making that one missed call. How do you make sure that a user doesn’t hang up?

     

    The ZipDial platform does all the hard work automatically for the brand. Marketers only need to think about what their brand benefits and the message they want to get. The ZipDial platform does all of the hard work in analysing data and results, profiling users based on preferences and behaviours, and automatically delivering the right personalised message to the right user at the right time, and even through the right user interface (i.e. voice, text, WAP, Apps).

     

    ZipDial always puts the consumer’s interests and the consumer’s privacy first. If this is broken, then ultimately it reflects poorly on the brand. Conversion rates on ZipDial campaigns are between 9-45 per cent compared to industry standard conversion rates of less than 0.5 per cent. Users trust the privacy-protected and personalised ZipDial experience and therefore stay more engaged.

     

    Typically how does ZipDial help a brand to roll out its mobile campaign?

     

    ZipDial keeps a close watch on the needs and trends in the market before advertisers even realise it themselves. We invest in developing our engagement, retargeting and analytics to keep the industry move forward.

     

    We also work closely with all for brand marketing as well as for trade marketing. Our focus is also to integrate our advanced platform into their overall consumer loyalty, data and marketing strategies. We work hand-in-hand with our most forward thinking marketers and then replicate and scale the solutions across the industry.

     

    How has H1 of 2014 been for Digital ZipDial?

     

    ZipDial has already more than doubled its revenue run rate in the first quarter of the financial year. We look forward to working further with clients about their comprehensive mobile, data and loyalty strategies.

     

    What is at top of your wish list for 2014? 

     

    Taking ZipDial’s innovative platform global is one of our main priorities for this year. We have already started to expand into the rest of Asia, but we are even more excited to take our expansion further into Africa very soon.

  • Missed call? It might be Facebook calling India

    Missed call? It might be Facebook calling India

    MUMBAI: Missed call: most of us have used it at some time or the other to connect with our friends when we are low on our mobile phone balance on our low end feature phones. Now Facebook is hoping to rake in the moolah courtesy this quirky habit amongst India’s light walleted mobile users.

    It announced a new ad format based on the missed call habit this morning through a post by its emerging markets ad products specialist Kelly MacLean.

    Describing it she writes:   “When a person sees an ad on Facebook they can place a “missed call” by clicking the ad from their mobile device. In the return call, the person will receive valuable content, such as music, cricket scores or celebrity messages, alongside a brand message from the advertiser — all without using airtime or data.”

    Facebook says 66 per cent of the 100 million or so of its users in India access the social networking site on their low-end feature phones using 2G services. Despite India being its second largest market, it contributed only Rs 75 crore to its top line last year, according to online site Quartz.

    “That’s a teeny-weeny fraction of its total global revenues of $5.49 billion (around Rs 33,000 crore),” says a media observer. “And it clearly needs to get India to generate more greenbacks.”

    Facebook says it has been testing the missed call ad product in India for sometime now and it has generated some success. It expects to give it a further push in the next few months as it rolls it out to advertisers.

    Among the advertisers which have used it is Garnier Men- a L’Oreal brand –  during the recently concluded cricket mega success, the IPL, from April to May 2014, says Facebook in  a case study it has published online.

    As part of the campaign, photo ads were placed on News Feed, targeting men between15-35, asking them to click to call for a chance to meet players from the Rajasthan Royals and win match tickets or official merchandise.

    “When someone clicked on the ad unit, a number was auto-populated in their phone dialer and a number was called. The call then dropped after a couple rings and the caller received an SMS with trivia questions to answer to enter the contest. The caller was also presented with a Flipkart link to purchase products,” Facebook says in the Garnier case study. It had partnered with Bengaluru based missed call services provider ZipDial for the promotion. 

    The social networking platform says the campaign saw Garnier achieve its goal of reaching 15 million of the target audience. 16 times more calls were generated from the Facebook missed call ad unit  than all other digital and print media combined, and its sales rose a claimed two and a half times year on year.

    Garnier general manager Rupika Raman had this say about the test: “When we were approached by Facebook to become the first brand globally to take part in the click to missed call innovation, we were excited to try it out. It has reaped rich dividends and has been highly impactful.”

    Facebook has partnered with India’s largest mobile phone service provider Airtel, and missed call platform provider ZipDial, as it begins rolling out the new ad unit in India.

    The site says that it will soon start offering features such as life-stage targeting (new moms and dads, graduation moments) to advertisers, while it has already started offering geo-targeting options wherein advertisers can target people by state or even multiple states in India without having to list multiple cities.

    And to get around the doubting Thomases about its efficacy as an ad medium it has partnered with Nielsen to serve polls to people on feature phones. “Our new measurement solution provides advertisers with greater tools to measure brand sentiment, purchase intent and ad recall for the first time on mobile as well as desktop,” Facebook has highlighted in the post.

    The announcement of the new ad format has come at a time when Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is visiting India hobnobbing with government officials, and small and medium business owners.

    (Pix courtesy: Facebook)