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Tag: Prasad Shejale

  • Despite maximum internet shutdowns, digital advertising enjoyed heyday throughout 2019

    Despite maximum internet shutdowns, digital advertising enjoyed heyday throughout 2019

    DELHI: Year 2019 was a tough slide for the advertising industry in India. The traditional model suffered because of the ambiguity over new tariff orders and the sector jumped into a reeling spiral because of the economic crunch. But there were not many hurdles to stop the magnificent growth of digital advertising. Despite 95 internet shutdowns, digital advertising in India reportedly grew 30 per cent during the year. Elections and World Cup were added bonuses. Obviously, digital marketers have their year closing on brighter notes.

    “2019 has been an interesting year for digital marketers. From the rise of augmented reality and video content to voice search and influencer marketing, this year the trajectory of digital industry has only gone up,” says White Rivers Media CEO and Co-founder Shrenik Gandhi.

    Madison Digital chief digital officer Vishal Chinchankar is pompous as he announces the fantastic year his firm had, “If I look back, Madison Digital had a fantastic year. We grew more than the industry average. After winning more than 10 digital businesses, we launched “DATASK”, our propriety consumer-based targeted marketing and insights platform, designed to identity and define personalised experiences at scale. Along with this, we also launched a suite of performance marketing tools based on algorithmic machine learning. TV Plus planning process was successfully implemented with many clients. We also saw muted spends from categories like BFSI & Auto. It’s been a year of product launches leading to more wins!”

    Logicserve Digital founder and CEO Prasad Shejale tells us that the year was all about positive transformation for his business as they unveiled a new identity for themselves. He adds, “We defined and integrated our core capability areas. This was also the year when we started experimenting much more on integrating data, media, creative, tools & technologies, etc. to provide a holistic approach to our clients’ digital strategy. There was a good addition of leadership talent in our team and we have been focusing on the consulting business as well.”

    However, Mirum India general manager – sales Srikant Subramanian feels that there were some brands who faced some hiccups in taking off, despite the stellar opportunities that digital ecosystem had to offer. He quips, “It seemed like a year where there were several companies who wanted to take the leap and do something different and challenging in a cluttered world, and others who decided to play it safe and stick to the devil they knew.”

    From the perspective of trends and technology, the year saw lots of experimentation. Social commerce gained a lot of popularity. Facebook announced newer algorithms and also came up with a new 10-second ad format called Thumbstoppers, Instagram was equipped with its own business tool , Whatsapp ads were announced, TikTok garnered massive attention with its reach multiplying in the Indian heartland, and regional content took centre-stage. E-tailers like Myntra, Flipkart, and Zomato forayed into the world of video hosting to achieve their targets of becoming integrated experience portals.

    Shejale notes that all of this eventually helped businesses get more gains out of their marketing efforts while also being able to tap the right audiences, through the right channels with the right approach of platform-specific formats.

    Commenting on these trends, Subramanian says, “Instagram for business has had an impact on small digital-first businesses in India and has helped them a lot. In many of our clients that we work with it hasn’t had too much impact. 10-sec ads of course have had a positive impact on spending on FB as they now compete with YouTube and offer the marketer a new option to play with aside from the 3-sec option from earlier.”

    He mentions another interesting trend that gained popularity within the year, which is of marketers looking at behind the scenes tools for data modelling and checking behaviour of their audiences before they launch campaigns.

    Grapes Digital COO Shradha Agarwal sharing her thoughts on the popularity of influencer marketing elaborates, “Influencer marketing became an indispensable part of the marketing plan for every brand. It was one of the most visible easily paid word-of-mouth and a tool to create new content every year. The biggest trend this year was the selection of influencers via various influencers' tools based on Engagement Rate and a mere follower base. The second was the movement from Instagram to Tiktok; a lot of brands saw a shift in their choice of influencer strategy. Tiktok is going to be the biggest social platform in 2020 too. With the rise of TikTok, brands found the way to interact with the next million internet users and NCCS B, C, and D.”

    The industry is well-positioned for an even better 2020. With Gen-Z taking centre-stage in most industries, digital consumption is expected to multiply and thus there is huge scope for digital agencies to perform.

    Gandhi is positive that 2020 is going to be a game changer for digital marketers. “With a plethora of new trends and challenges on the way, the coming year will help businesses in gaining a competitive edge, generate leads and improve the relationship with their existing customers,” he says.

    Subramanian believes that restricted budgets and a mixed economy feeling will lead clients to focus on business outcomes on digital. He adds, “We will see more integration between traditional mediums and the use of geo-targeting for those campaigns to deliver maximum impact.”

    Zirca CEO & director Neena Dasgupta quips, “Digital advertising, in the coming decade, is going to be filled with challenges as well as opportunities. For instance, the last few years have seen video consumption grown tremendously. But with shorter ad formats in the video space, brands have been challenged creatively requiring them to be very dynamic while showcasing their creative brilliance. I also see AI playing a greater role. Whoever manages to balance the aspects of efficiency with creativity will rule the roost.”

    Shejale mentions, “Looking forward to seeing increased spends on digital marketing. Focus on data-backed and insight-led solutions that are more likely to perform well and provide improved results. Amplification of technologies like AR, VR, Voice, etc and integration of these for offering unique experiences to consumers.”

    Chichankar adds that the internet population is expected to cross 750 million mark in 2020. Speaking about trends, he says, “Video, voice should continue the growth story. I am personally very bullish about the content consumption and share of advertising growth on OTTs. While Madison has already put the protocols to mitigate ad frauds and viewability, the industry needs to be more cognizant about it.”

  • Logicserve Digital gears up for the next phase of growth with a new transformational identity

    Logicserve Digital gears up for the next phase of growth with a new transformational identity

    Mumbai: Logicserve Digital, a digital marketing company and the Indian arm of Logicserve Group, has announced the launch of a new logo for the company today to mark the milestone year, 2019 when the company is witnessing exponential growth. The company will start using the new branding within all it's internal as well as external communications with stakeholders over the coming weeks.

    Here’s a look at the new transformational identity of the company which is in sync with the ever-changing nature of the industry.

    The overall logo reflects the three key character traits of the company: curiosity, adaptability and intelligence; which are indispensable to thrive and lead in the dynamic world.

    The circle at the bottom is similar to the anchor seen in a question mark or exclamation and symbolises curiosity that is the genesis of any change or transformation. The fluid shape showcases adaptability highlighting the company’s ability to change and evolve. The mnemonic that looks like a profile view of a brain, symbolises intelligence and thought leadership.

    Multi-specialisation is the need of the hour and varied skill sets are required to design a solution for the challenges faced by today’s world. Here, the company represents its core capabilities – Media, Creative, Data & Insights, and Technology; as distinct from one another through different colours and shapes. The core capabilities are ever changing and evolving, which is why the shapes are fluid and transient in nature. These core capabilities are interdependent and when brought together embodies what they offer to the world – an integrated solution.  

    Talking about the new identity, Prasad Shejale, CEO & Founder, Logicserve Digital, shares, “One must be curious, adaptive, and intelligent to move with the disruptive times – change, transform and evolve with it. The new company logo is reflective of our new identity encapsulating these qualities. Over the years, these qualities have helped us achieve a rapid growth trajectory and provided us with a head start to embark on the next phase of growth. The overall move reflects the need for us to have a new narrative and logo that reflects our evolution as an integrated digital solutions company.”

    Logicserve Digital continues to advance its growth footprint by being an Independent ‘360-degree digital marketing agency’ providing integrated solutions. The company has won over 100 awards in the past two years for the successful implementation of digital marketing solutions focused on a customer-centric and tailor-made strategy that yields a win-win situation for both brands and consumers. It was recognised as ‘Performance Agency of the Year’ at Digixx 2019 and ‘Performance Marketing Agency of the Year’ at AgencyCon 2019. With a strong team of 320+ digital marketing experts and having serviced over 300 happy clients across various sectors, the company is poised to embark on its next phase of growth by adorning a new identity. 

    Further commenting on the journey of the company, Prasad says, “In 2012 when we shifted our focus to the Indian market, we realised the growth potential and decided to pivot to specific digital marketing services. Our ability to be a ‘Digital trend-catcher’ has benefitted us a lot in terms of strengthening our relationship with clients and their consumers through innovative and data-driven digital campaigns. From 122 employees in 2016 with one office we have grown to a strong team of over 320 employees with three offices in India. We delivered 102% CAGR over the last five years and continue to be on a rapid growth trajectory. In the next three years, we aim to achieve four times the average growth of the Indian digital marketing industry. Also, we have kickstarted our international operations and our new leadership team is all geared up to achieve the next phase of growth. Achievement of these significant milestones has made 2019 a wonderful year for us so far and I would like to thank our clients, partners and team members for bestowing us with their trust for a long-lasting partnership.”

  • E-commerce industry to spend an estimated Rs 2000 cr on marketing festive season sales

    E-commerce industry to spend an estimated Rs 2000 cr on marketing festive season sales

    MUMBAI: Festive season is the best part of the year for e-commerce companies and this year they have recorded 12 times growth in sales as compared to the past year despite the economic slowdown, industry insiders revealed to Indiantelevision.com. The e-commerce sector remained largely immune from the impact of the slowdown as the lucrative offers kept the purchase intent of the consumers intact.

    Logicserve Digital co-founder and CEO Prasad Shejale explained, “Creative messaging coupled with enticing discounts has been successful in convincing the end-user to spend money on the preferred e-commerce platform.  Post the purchase customers feel a sense of satisfaction that they were successful in saving some bucks after the festive season purchase. Hence, boosting consumer sentiments has helped e-commerce players in India to set new industry benchmarks and surpass their sales targets.”

    He added, “Also, if you observe global e-commerce players have started tapping tier-2 and 3 cities of India which have contributed a significant share of growth during the latest sale season. For this, e-commerce companies have been implementing strategies to reach out to the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) customers. In emerging markets like India, the consumers in tier-2 and tier-3 cities may be less educated, especially at the bottom of the pyramid, and given the low purchasing experience may find difficulty in resisting offers, affordable and value-driven sale season themes, especially during the festive season.”

    The platforms have been spending extensively to market their online sales during this festive season. As per estimates shared by Havas Media Group India managing director Mohit Joshi the spends by the industry will touch Rs 2000 crore.

    Expectedly, Amazon and Flipkart are spending the most to drive their festive season sales. Shejale reveals that the two spent between Rs 700 – 850 crore, and Rs 400 – 550 crore respectively last year. The numbers are estimated to be the same this year as well.

    Madison Media Plus CEO Rajul Kulshreshtha shares, “Within a span of two months (Aug – Sep), these players had spent considerate amount, especially Amazon. The total spends by this category so far is Rs 204 crore (as per reported spends) Amazon is spending more on print while Flipkart is following a completely opposite strategy. So is in the case of Paytm and Snapdeal where Paytm is not taking the TV route while Snapdeal’s approach is TV and radio.”

    The strategic communication planning for e-commerce platforms is also very tactical during this period as all of them are targeting the same set of consumers with fairly similar offers. Brandintellé Services Pvt Ltd founder and CEO Biswajit Das says that each platform tracks real-time data offers made by its competitors, shared by third-party data providers, based on which they design specific offers and marketing communication.

  • Logicserve Digital appoints Manesh Swamy as VP – creative

    Logicserve Digital appoints Manesh Swamy as VP – creative

    MUMBAI: Logicserve Digital, a digital marketing company and the Indian arm of Logicserve Group, has appointed Manesh Swamy as vice president – creative. Swamy will head the creative team and play a key role in augmenting the creative aspects of the solutions they offer to their clients.

    An expert in the industry, Swamy comes with over two decades of experience and brings with him a strong digital orientation with experience of managing reputed brands across sectors. He has helped the teams to design award-winning creative campaigns for various brands and was instrumental in creating innovative brand experiences.

    Congratulating Swamy on his appointment Logicserve Digital co-founder and CEO Prasad Shejale said, “We are very happy to have Manesh on board with us. His experience, expertise and credibility will help strengthen our creative offerings with the changing needs of end consumer and thus brands. Great creative communication depending on customer context and channel touchpoint will pluck the right emotional chords of the end consumer. Manesh will help enhance the innovative, and impactful creative communications and solutions to our clients. He is a digital native and has created multiple campaigns across mediums including digital, activation and mobile. He follows a customer-centric approach with game-changing technology at its core and, I believe, he is a perfect fit to lead our creative team.”

    Talking about his appointment, Swamy said, “I believe that creativity is the soul of effective marketing activities. Combining creativity with the overall brand messaging using insights from the available data can help brands set a personal connection with the audience. I am really excited to be a part of Logicserve Digital. I take up this opportunity to support and enhance the creative capabilities of the company and create a new persona that encompasses digital media expertise as well as strong creative outlook offering 360-degree solutions to our clients.”

    Swamy has spearheaded successful campaigns for brands including PepsiCo, Mahindra Auto, Nerolac paints, Singapore Tourism, Milton, Intel, UB Group, Hyundai, ACC, and many more. Some of the notable campaigns he has curated include branded content for Tata Pravesh’s #DoorsOfIndia, Intel’s ‘A look inside Dharavi’ project, Mahindra XUV500’s digital launch, social media campaigns #HarGhoontMainSwag and #RiskUthaNaamBana for Pepsi and Mountain Dew to name a few.

    Before joining Logicserve Digital, he worked with Hungama Digital Services for 15 years where he played a significant role in leading the team win more than 100 metals at national as well as international awards. He has been a part of the Jury for prestigious awards like Goafest-Abbys, AdFest Pattaya and has been featured under Social Samosa’s 40under40 2019 list. 

  • Logicserve Digital strengthens leadership team with multiple senior level appointments

    Logicserve Digital strengthens leadership team with multiple senior level appointments

    MUMBAI: Logicserve Digital, a digital marketing company and the Indian arm of Logicserve Group, has onboarded Dhirendra Singh, Anshuman Misra, Shantanu Bhattacharyya, Priti Kende, Kaustav Mukerji and Ashwani Kumar to augment its capabilities across client servicing, creative, technology, campaign strategy, integrated marketing, and business development.

    These multi-level leadership appointments align well with the company’s commitment to deliver best in class advisory and execution capabilities.

    Commenting on the agency’s latest appointments, Logicserve Digital co-founder and CEO Prasad Shejale said, "The newly appointed leadership team will play an important role to drive the next phase of growth for Logicserve Digital. I believe this is the right time to scale up the business and bridge the gap between marketing and technological innovations through data-driven integrated digital marketing solutions. Our new team members will help us stay ahead of the curve with the skillset and expertise they bring to the table. We look forward to keep up the momentum by delivering the promise of quality work and helping our clients be ready for the surfeit of opportunities that are opening up due to growth in digital space.”

    Dhirendra Singh has a rich experience of over 24 years in creative development, creative strategies, managing creative assets and out-of-the-box conceptualisation. His last stint was with JWT as VP – digital production.

    Anshuman Misra is an alumnus of Symbiosis Institute of International Business and comes with an experience of over 22 years. In his previous roles, misra has worked as COO of Couponraja.in and has co-founded one of the world’s first Citizen Journalism powered Online News Portal, Merinews.com.

    Shantanu Bhattacharyya comes with more than 20 years of experience across sectors including FMCG, media, home services, social enterprise, consumer durable in India and abroad. He has prior experience of working with brands including Eveready Industries, Godrej Consumer Products Limited, Radiocity 91.1 FM, Fever 104 FM, Beximco and Labournet Services.

    Priti Kende is an IT professional with more than 20 years of experience. She has worked in various domains including banking, data warehousing, manufacturing, media & entertainment, etc. In her prior job roles, she has worked with companies including LTI, Mastek, and Kale Consultants.

    Kaustav Mukerji comes with more than 13 years of experience dedicated to digital and integrated marketing. He began his career with Google as part of their founding team in Gurgaon. He has held multiple key positions across brand as well as agency side. In his previous roles, he has worked with companies like Bharti Airtel, Canara HSBC, GroupM, Omnicom Media Group, Starcom MediaVest Group and has managed brands across varied verticals.

    Ashwani Kumar comes with over 9 years of experience in ad-tech. In his previous roles, he has managed the performance business portfolio for both domestic and overseas clients. He has a strong background of being a key media buyer and digital strategist for high revenue advertisers in India with great partner management capabilities.

  • Facebook’s ‘Why Am I Seeing This Ad’ update to help brands create better impact

    Facebook’s ‘Why Am I Seeing This Ad’ update to help brands create better impact

    MUMBAI: Social media giant Facebook recently announced some new controls to its ‘Why Am I Seeing This Ad’ feature offering more transparency and control to its users. The platform will now show more detailed information on the targeting parameters used and the source of information for a particular ad, among several other control measures for the users to pick which ads they want to see and which they don’t.

    Digichefs co-founder Deep Mehta feels that there was a strong need for Facebook to roll out features like these given ‘the scandals’ it had been involved in during the last few years.

    Logicserve Digital co-founder and CEO Prasad Shejale thinks that the social media company is making conscious efforts to take care of  users’ data & privacy and gain back their trust after numerous concerns that it has faced around user data misuse.

    He adds, “Also, we saw many countries passing laws to ensure user data is protected and not misused by companies and brands including GDPR, California Consumer Privacy Act and also India's Personal Data Protection Bill to be discussed in the upcoming parliament session. The new-age users are smart and becoming mindful about their data, its usage, and how, at times, unwanted ads often cross the fine line between being helpful and being spooky. This further adds to consumers' concern about how their information reaches the brand. They also feel the need for an option to opt-out of such marketing activities and, sometimes, judge the brands for exploiting users' behavioural data.”

    Times Internet COO-Indiatimes and lifestyle brands Angad Bhatia notes that this is a step in the right direction. “Empowering users to further control their newsfeed experience helps build a stronger relationship between the user and the platform. The more control users have, the better is the retention and higher is the uptake of the platform. Facebook has reached a critical mass from both the advertiser demand and user supply sides. This only leads to a better advertising recommendation. With this, advertisers can gauge customer affinity and organic pull of the brands by serving them their brands of choice.”

    Most of the digital industry is of the view that the move won’t impact the advertisers’ reach immediately. Shejale says, “I really don't think any good step like this can truly impact the reach. Rather, if they adhere to the rules, it will only help brands create better impact among the audiences and build their brand equity.”

    1702 Digital co-founder Mihir Joshi mentions that this is just the ‘learning phase’ for Facebook. He adds, “The new update in the Facebook feature won't impact the advertisers reach. Diligent audience targeting helps marketers achieve their goals. Seldom, they do bombard the user, which is when the question of ''Why do I see this Ad?'' arises.”

    However, Zolo co-founder and CEO Nikhil Sikri says that the move will impact the advertisers who use Facebook retargeting by uploading user lists which they’ve not generated themselves i.e. purchased from 3rd party vendors. “This change will have a long-standing impact on those businesses which are using the non-opt-in database as Facebook might stop those brands from targeting custom audiences and thus limit their reach on social channels.”

    The move is not only a great proposition for users worried about the safety of their data but comes as a great opportunity for advertisers looking to streamline their strategies and targeting approach.

    Triton Communications executive vice president Virendra Saini shares that it can help advertisers in checking competitors' ad targeting. This might help them in better planning their approach as well.

    Bhatia quips that such initiatives are a part of the bigger shift in the industry’s perspective of the advertiser-consumer relationship and thus they should look at it with an approach to embrace this system.

    He says, “The ‘spray and pray’ approach in advertising has rarely worked and is rightfully on its way out. It pays to effectively engage potential customers via a meaningful conversation about your brand than sneak in pop-up ads that are jarring and disrupt their experience.”

  • Logicserve Digital appoints Sandesh Sathyanarayana as AVP of business alliances – South India

    Logicserve Digital appoints Sandesh Sathyanarayana as AVP of business alliances – South India

    MUMBAI: Logicserve Digital, a digital marketing company and the Indian arm of Logicserve Group, has appointed Sandesh Sathyanarayana as AVP – business alliances to lead the business in Southern India. Sathyanarayana will work on expanding the company’s business portfolio and help strategize business models to service the existing as well as new clients. 

    Commenting on his appointment, Sathyanarayana said, “India is the fastest growing ad markets in the world and by 2020, roughly 25 per cent of the overall ad spend would be on digital channels. With rapid strides in AdTech, MarTech and automation, and an ever-increasing emphasis on transparency and privacy; digital marketing has been evolving faster than ever. This makes it challenging for brands to stand out and be noticed for the right reasons. That's where Logicserve Digital comes into the picture. We partner with brands and help them win the digital battle while consistently delivering impactful business outcomes. I am really excited to join the energetic Logicserve Digital family and use my expertise to help them achieve greater success in the future.”

    Congratulating Sandesh on his new role, Logicserve Digital co-founder and CEO Prasad Shejale, commented, “This strategic appointment has been made at just the right time in our journey. Our Gurugram office started more than a year back. It was a good move for us as it led to a significant expansion of business and provided new growth opportunities. We envision a similar response with Sandesh’s appointment. We already have a decent share of that market. However, we believe, there are many more opportunities in this geography to bank on and expand the business multifold. I am looking forward to leverage Sandesh’s global experience and proven track record of successfully managing renowned global brands. He has a solid reputation of working closely with clients, understanding their pain points and partnering with them to visualise a bigger picture and design robust strategies around it. I am thrilled to have him as part of our growing team.”

    A veteran in the marketing industry, Sathyanarayana brings over 10 years of strong experience across technology, brand, and agency side serving multiple facets of digital marketing. Prior to joining Logicserve Digital, Sandesh has worked with brands like Google India, Indian Overseas Bank, Ample technologies, amongst others. He has shaped digital marketing strategies of global brands across various industries. He has a great hold on Marketing Technology, Digital Transformation & Digital media.

  • Programmatic advertising and political campaigns: The Mahagathbandhan for general elections 2019

    Programmatic advertising and political campaigns: The Mahagathbandhan for general elections 2019

    MUMBAI: Programmatic advertising is revolutionising the advertising industry. Programmatic ad spends accounted for a whopping 90 per cent of total spends by Fortune 500 brands worldwide in 2017 and has evidently taken centre stage of the digital advertising industry today. The ecosystem is on a steady rise in India as well and a number of brands are leveraging the reach it provides them within the consumer heartland based on efficient integration of their products via automated processes using codes and algorithms.

    With the general elections just a few months away, the political parties are also using this trend to attract the voters to their vote banks. Indiantelevision.com interacted with a few industry insiders to understand what programmatic advertising means to the political parties and what impact it may or may not have on the upcoming polls.

    Why programmatic?

    “Through the use of its unique targeting capabilities and advanced data crunching techniques, programmatic advertising is the perfect solution for politicians to reach the right voters. Voters can be targeted as per different criteria like – gender, age, location, party affiliation, political ideals, financial status, ownership, business, education and so on. Programmatic advertising facilitates crafting a data-driven campaign strategy. This helps to reach only those voters that have a possibility to vote in favour. This helps to reduce inefficiencies and bloated campaign budgets,” says Vertoz founder and CEO Ashish Shah. 

    He further adds, “Geo-targeting can be used to reach out to the voters of a particular region with a highly relevant and effective message. Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO) can enable adjusting the campaign creatives on the go in real-time, dynamically changing the copy as per their interests and affinities or for retargeting them.”

    iCubesWire founder and CEO Sahil Chopra gives the example of the previous general elections in India where current Prime Minister Narendra Modi made exceptional use of Twitter and other digital mediums to connect with his supporters. He said, “During the previous Lok Sabha elections in 2014, the digital medium was touted as an efficient and effective way by most of the political parties of India. In fact, when the election results were out, Mr. Modi didn’t declare his victory over the television, or even before his supporters. He chose to tweet about it. This message became one of the most retweeted messages in India, receiving more than 70,000 retweets. Such is the potential power of digital.”

    Similar thoughts are reflected by Ashish Shah as he notes, “Reaching out to the voters on digital platforms assumes supreme importance and has become a major aspect of political campaigns. Trump’s victory in the 2016 US presidential election was largely attributed to its digital campaigns. Closer home, digital media played a significant role in BJP’s landslide victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.”

    He further adds, “With rising technological advancements, Indians are spending more and more time on digital media surfing the internet. As of 2018, India had about 500 million internet users, as per a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Kantar IMRB. The number of urban users accessing the internet daily stands at 295 million, while in rural areas the number stands at 186 million. Further, with affordable handset prices and low-cost data penetration, they are spending more and more time on mobile. Thus, reaching out to these voters on digital platforms assumes supreme importance and has become a major aspect of the political campaigns.”

    Highlighting the core benefits of incorporating a programmatic approach to political advertising, Logicserve Digital co-founder and CEO Prasad Shejale notes, “Since programmatic advertising offers hardcore and precise consumer behavioural insights, even politicians have realised the distinctive importance of this and have started implementing the same for their election strategy to target voters based on the analysis done. Political parties target and plan their election campaigns by specifically addressing their issues and pain points analysed through this form of advertising, and increase awareness and influence potential voters. This automates the bidding process and delivers ads to match their voters’ criteria.”

    What role can programmatic play in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls?

    The biggest democracy of the world, India is all set for its Prime Ministerial polls, which are scheduled to happen in April-May. All the political parties will be putting their best feet forward in alluring the voters to their camps.

    According to the contribution report that BJP filed with the election commission post the 2014 polls, the BJP spent Rs 714.28 crore on election campaigning, the major chunk of which went on to media promotions. Digital accounted for a massive chunk of this expenditure and certainly the results reflected the power of effective poll advertising. This year, the expenditures are only expected to grow and with its manifold benefits, programmatic will surely play an important role in the process.

    Speaking about what could be the trend in the upcoming elections, Chopra contends, “It is certain that the digital medium will be used again in a big way during this election period. Industry estimates suggest that there will be a rise of 15-18 per cent of spends in 2019 during elections and cricket period; wherein programmatic will also be a beneficiary amongst other mediums. Precise targeting, wider reach options, and transparency will be one of the reasons advertisers will embrace programmatic as one of the mediums to create awareness and reach out to people.”

    While it definitely is a powerful tool to woo the voters, the trend of programmatic might have some repercussions in maintaining the sanctity of the voting process in a democracy. Fake ads, delusional narratives, and targeted approach might potentially impact the election results. While the industry doesn’t comment much on the greater impact, it contends for the need for transparency and cautiousness while executing such campaigns.

    Shejale says, “Well, it’s difficult to make an exact statement about this. I wouldn't be able to comment on whether programmatic will play a decisive role since multiple factors contribute to the decision when it comes to political campaigns. But yes, programmatic can help enhance the efficiency and efficacy of the campaigns. It's the responsibility of advertisers and agencies to have responsible marketing in mind since the consumers, over time, read through if there is any wrongdoing.”

    Shah continues the same trail of thought as he states, “One needs to be cautious of issues concerning brand-safety and wrong ad placements. If one is not careful, this can wreak havoc on the campaign. Also, problems like transparency and ad frauds have to be considered. These can leech off the campaign budgets and have a detrimental effect on all the efforts. Campaign managers should ensure that they partner with a programmatic platform which has the right mechanisms to protect the campaigns form such problems. It is advisable to on-board a platform that has brand safety, ad fraud detection, and ad fraud protection mechanisms and provides a good level of transparency.”

    “Many parts of our country especially the tier 2 and 3 cities are experiencing digital transformation. Thanks to low data rates and widespread availability, more and more people from smaller parts of our country are getting acquainted with the vast plethora of possibilities of the digital realm. A recent study by Google stated that the consumption of YouTube on mobile devices has increased by almost 400 per cent and 60 per cent of the total watch time is outside the top 6 metropolitan cities. 70 per cent of internet users from these cities are bypassing desktop and are using mobile for accessing the internet. Any strategy which is made in mind keeping a mobile-first approach will definitely be beneficial for the brands (political parties). Like any other medium within the digital portfolio, programmatic needs to be used in a constructive way,” mentions Chopra.

    While political parties and agencies are advised to be watchful in their conduct while creating political ads, platforms like Google and Facebook are taking their own steps to ensure that the election process remains fair. Ashish Shah shares, “Facebook – the social media giant – has taken notice of it and has recently announced a special offline verification policy for the 2019 General Elections. Google also said that it will introduce an India-specific Political Advertising Transparency Report and a searchable Political Ads Library to provide information like who is purchasing election ads on its platforms and the amount of money being spent.”

    Thus, while programmatic is going to be one effective and sought-after tool in poll promotions, the parties, as well as the advertisers will have to be sensitive about what they put online. At the end of it, the voters are smart and can read through the campaigns that might be malicious or false.

  • Tech, consumer behaviour, marketing create successful campaigns: Logicserve’s Prasad Shejale

    Tech, consumer behaviour, marketing create successful campaigns: Logicserve’s Prasad Shejale

    MUMBAI: Winning 50 awards in 2018 has not dented Logicserve Digital’s urge to keep progressing. The Indian media agency arm of Logicserve Group feels it still has a long way to go.

    In an exclusive conversation with Indiantelevision.com, Logicserve Digital co-founder and CEO Prasad Shejale outlined the major marketing trends that the agency will be focussing on in 2019 for an even better growth trajectory. Logicserve Digital is looking beyond the realms of existing marketing trends that focus heavily on technology, including neural network and programmatic AI, and is also focussing heavily on customer satisfaction driven by creativity.

    Shejale sees that people are not buying voices now, but experiences. Any technology or campaign should look at giving consumers a better experience. “The consumer is changing and so are technology, marketing and advertising. The technology has got incorporated very much into day-to-day life. So, the trends must go beyond these existing paradigms. I think it is a combination of technology, consumer behaviour and marketing which will give a greater experience to the customer and will help in creating successful campaigns. Technology is evolving, so many changes are happening every day, which is great! But to create a seamless experience we need to strike a balance between man and machine,” notes Shejale.

    Speaking about the first of the three major trends that Logicserve Digital is eyeing in 2019, Shejale mentions that next year is going to be for those who understand the consumers and have consumer experience at the core of their strategies, irrespective of the technology they use.

    Elaborating more on consumer trends, Shejale mentions the mantra of ‘video, vernacular, and voice’. He says that video is getting maximum attention and vernacular content is driving a lot of population to these videos. One needs to tap this trend smartly and in a responsible manner. “Agencies should start realising that even while the ads are free, they eat my viewer’s time. That’s why advertisements should be responsible. A line needs to be drawn as to how much is too much and how are ads affecting the life and time of a consumer who is not interested in their content,” he says.

    Shejale notes that personalisation of the ad content is a must in today’s times. “There is a huge divide between India and Bharat. A good amount of people from the latter group have found their way online and probably have the same aspirations as those of a metro person. The focus here shifts on how we interact with those people,” he mentions.

    He adds that due to the new alert customer, there’s a huge responsibility on brands to bring in the right experience — it has to be subtle and personalised. It also has to solve the problem of the customer. “It can’t be spray and pray. If you do spray and pray, the amount of money you will spend will go against your plan,” he says.

    Giving the example of Kia Motors, he says they personalised social media campaigns by introducing real-time marketing. He quips that one needs to keep going back to technologies that are already in place to work on such meaningful campaigns that not only hold consumer’s attention but also drive satisfaction by having an impact.

    There is a huge boom in the technology sector and a continuous evolvement of the space is also happening.  While it is mandatory to incorporate these new technologies in the marketing campaigns, it is much more important to back these up with creative storytelling. Shejale believes that creative people in the industry will have to be constantly on their toes and grill their brains to think of creative concepts to drive successful marketing campaigns.

    “Today’s consumer has a very short attention span. The format of ad consumption is changing—shorter yet impactful ads work. The storytelling has completely changed, wherein it starts with a big impact then there is a build, and then probably the impact or reinforcing of what to be told,” he says.

    However, he isn’t averse to the idea of long-form traditional storytelling. “Yes, formats are changing. The ads are getting shorter. But having said so, we also have n number of examples where, if the story is told well, people are willing to go for longer formats too.”

    Shejale says that it all boils down to only one point – the understanding of consumer journey lifecycle. Agencies should have an idea of how are they getting into the life and awareness phase of a viewer and know where they can’t demand too long a time from him/her. And this is where technology comes into play.  Agencies must use technical tools to form a good database about the consumer in terms of age, gender, profession, among others and then personalise their ads accordingly. 

  • Logicserve Digital Wins Six Awards at The Mobby’s 2018

    Logicserve Digital Wins Six Awards at The Mobby’s 2018

    MUMBAI: Logicserve Digital , the Indian media agency arm of Logicserve Group won six awards including the ‘Digital Person of the Year’ honour bestowed upon the CEO Prasad Shejale, at The Mobby’s Awards (part of the Mobile and Digital Marketing Summit) held in Mumbai on 27 November. Additionally, Prasad was listed among the ‘Top 50 Influential Digital Marketing Leaders’ at the prestigious platform.

    The other laurels included “Best Display Campaign” for Piramal Healthcare Limited (Programmatic) project; “Best Use of digital media in advertising/marketing” and “best search marketing campaign” for Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited project; “best use of video” for DHFL General Insurance – COCO campaign; and “best brand marketing campaign” for Reliance Mutual Fund project.

    Logicserve Digital co-founder and CEO Prasad Shejale commented, “To be recognised for our campaigns in the mobile marketing space is recognition of our efforts to stay ahead of the curve and innovate to provide competitive advantage for customers. This validation from the industry will be a reminder of the high standard we have set for ourselves for years to come.”

    Hosted by the World Marketing Congress and CMO Asia, The Mobby’s celebrates outstanding achievements of individuals and businesses showcasing cutting edge capabilities in mobile marketing. The Mobby’s covers all sections of the Mobile Industry from device, hardware, and accessories through to content development & innovation.

    It has been raining awards for Logicserve Digital this year. Starting from three category awards at CMO Asia earlier this year to six awards at ACEF and CDO Converge earlier in October, the company has won a total of 57 awards in 2018.