Indian Eye

Search for the right media mix (pun intended)

The Internet has transformed from a mere information resource, to an active ground for businesses looking for leads or sales. The inherent dynamism of the media, coupled with measurability is making it a favorite with advertisers. It is no surprise that more and more advertisers are visible online. For an advertiser, there is a bouquet of options, that include portals, search engines or even third party inventory aggregators.

But when it comes to cost or performance, search engine based advertising is the clear winner hands-down. This has historically been the case, and I can vouch from my experience managing a multitude of campaigns over the years. If an average banner ad campaign fetches you leads at Rs. X, a well managed search engine  sponsored ad can get you the same for 1/3rd the cost. And the same is for performance. The lead-sale conversion from a sponsored search ad-campaign is almost twice that of a regular campaign. And amongst search engines, Google has the edge in terms of the volumes (almost 90% of the leads) but Yahoo is at par or better than Google when it comes to conversions.

For conventional banner based advertising or variants, the only way to catch up is by introducing a dynamic, preemptive and context-intelligent ad delivery model. As for media aggregators or media-buyers, its in the interest of their consumers that they make course corrections in their campaign based on real-time monitoring, and campaign intelligence.

The demand for better performing ad-units is intense, and so is the competition amongst them. And competition is always a good thing to have.

Tags: Advertising, Internet

Posted in Advertising, Business, Google, Internet, Marketing, Search | No Comments »

Ads that make you go Wow!

Here is a slideshow of some innovatively done ads. What makes them stand out from the rest is the good use of visual trickery and metaphors. Enjoy!

Tags: Advertising, Innovativeness, Marketing

Posted in Advertising, Marketing | 1 Comment »

Digital Advertising Agencies - The Woes and Ways ahead

Advertising on the Internet is almost a decade now, but its potential and benefit to marketers have only been realized fairly recently. The measurability, the innovativeness, the cost benefit and the unprecedented reach to a global audience has made marketing on the Internet a favourite amongst a growing number of marketers.

However, because this is a new medium, the number of online marketing agencies that can handle a client’s end-to-end internet marketing requirements are virtually non-existent. There are specialists in all kinds of areas - from SEO (Search Engine Optimization), PPC (Pay Per Click), Blogging, Online Media Buying, Banner Creatives, Facebook applications, Virals etc.

The good part is that there are many good specialists in their area of expertise, the problem is that all these areas are relatively incoherent. You need someone to orchestrate your campaign, route it to all these specialist areas and bring it all together to make the campaign successful.

If you manage the online initiatives for your company, you will relate with it, especially if your company has a big budget in the online space.

There are many so called generalists who claim to provide end-to-end, seamless online marketing solutions. But dig the surface, and most of these agency claims are empty and fail to deliver on their promise.

Many of the traditional advertising agencies have forayed into the digital marketing space, and are attempting to fill the gap for their clients. Their “attempt” however leaves a lot to be desired. Most of the client servicing guys handle the Internet business with the legacy of traditional advertising, and handle this medium with the same gloves.

That said, some of the big agencies are also acquiring specialist digital agencies, in the hope of completing the spectrum. It will be interesting to watch, how these acquisitions pan out over the years.

Will good digital marketing agencies thrive on their own, or would they need to be part of a traditional agency needs to be seen. Whatever may be the case, marketers/clients need a single point interface and a partner to maximize the brand and revenue potential.

Tags: Advertising, Internet

Posted in Advertising, India, Internet, Marketing, Opinions, Sales | 4 Comments »

Marketing, PR, Advertising, Branding - a Visual Analogy

Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising and Branding are all tools for consumer engagement, perception management and brand equity. The relation between these are best explained in the visual below.

Tags: Advertising, Branding, Marketing, PR

Posted in Advertising, Marketing | 5 Comments »

Ad Lib - What makes a great advertisement

According to me, there are only two kinds of ads. The ones you remember and the ones you don’t.

Of the ones that you remember, I’m not getting into the details of awful looking ads because the rub-off to the brand is also negative.

In the days of Doordarshan (legacy Indian TV channel, state controlled) when content was limited to only one channel, advertisements were a welcome break and people remember the ads (aired in the 80s) even now. In those days, it wasn’t about great concept or execution, just the lack of clutter that made it amazingly easy for ads to create the brand association.

Times have changed, and television content and channels have proliferated beyong the wildest imagination. Where there is content, there are consumers, and where there are consumers, there is commerce. All that potent umpteen ad space/spots are occupied by an umpteen brands with their ads.
Some of them are so common and “stenciled”, that you would need to watch it several times over to even know which brand its associated with. Others are so bad in execution, that you wonder if there was a kid behind the creatives.

Even worse are the ones that want you to stretch your imagination, requiring a cryptologist to understand what it means. Perhaps those ads were meant to win awards, please the intelligentsia, make it a bait for future pitches. But did it connect with the customer and improve the perception, increase the sale? Who cares, the awards lie decorated in the shelf!

A great ad may never win an award, but it remains in popular perception long after it is gone. Great Ads, like the Orange (Hutch -> Vodafone ->? …) faithful dog or the Coke “Thanda matlab…” managed to linger long after and created a pleasant association with the brand.

With a thousand brands floating around, the mind choses to remember only the ones that make a distinction.

If a good ad reaches out to the intended audience, a great ad holds on to it.

Tags: Advertisement, Advertising

Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Opinions, Sales | No Comments »