#SSIPLWatch Our objectives from IPL marketing are brand awareness & installs: Ashish Bajaj, MediBuddy

Ashish Bajaj, Head of Marketing, MediBuddy-DocsApp talks about the company's marketing plan to leverage the 13the edition of IPL in light of their association with RCB.

Digital healthcare platform, MediBuddy has partnered with Royal Challengers Bangalore with an aim to spread awareness around health and teleconsultations. As part of #SSIPLWatch, we get in touch with Ashish Bajaj, Head of Marketing, MediBuddy-DocsApp to know more about the company's objective from associating with IPL, social media plan, and communication strategy to make the most of their investment.

Edited Excerpts:

What was the insight behind your association with RCB?

Our association with RCB will enable us to reach out to a far and wider audience which falls in line with our endeavor of quality health care, for every Indian.

What does the overall marketing plan for the season look like?
What kind of a role will social media play?

This IPL season, we have launched our first-ever TV campaign ‘#Aapka Health Buddy’. To ensure360-degree marketing coverage, the TVC  will be aired on multiple channels on television for a period of 4 weeks and on IPL on Hotstar for all 60 matches.  The campaign will also be supported on various digital platforms and other media channels.

We want to encourage people to embrace teleconsultations and in general, make health a priority. Most people feel helpless for various reasons; at times it could be logistical issues for people who are far away from clinics or need a doctor at odd hours or certain inhibitions to meet a doctor physically etc. and end up taking wrong decisions.

Also Read: #SSIPLWatch Nippon Paint’s Mark Titus on digital marketing strategy for IPL 2020

Please take us through your media mix. How much percent of it is reserved for digital?

We have carefully strategized the Media Plan so as to ensure that we are able to reach out to the ideal audience. To be able to reach out & attain maximum reach, our media mix consists of TV, Digital & Mobile, Partnership & Sponsorship/endorsement.

On our social media channels, we have a series of campaigns lined up. On match days especially when RCB is playing, we have campaigns for our users.  

So far engaging campaigns such as Grab & Win, What A Coincidence &Record, Share &Win, etc. have been taken live on the platform where winners have been rewarded exciting offers & RCB goodies. 

Grab & Win was a contest for our users where they record a video of a TV Ad and share it on Social media tagging MediBuddy along with hashtags #MediBuddy #AapkaHealthBuddy. What a Coincidence is also another contest for our users where they comment with their favorite coincidence this T20 season & get a chance to win exciting goodies. Our reserve for digital is 50%.

What are the parameters to calculate ROI on your IPL marketing
initiatives? Do you think it will be difficult to recover the investment amidst
the pandemic crisis?

Our parameters are brand awareness, top of mind recall, and installs. Our approach for the campaign is long term.

I strongly believe that investments are done in creating a brand and recovery doesn’t necessarily happen overnight.

How will you be leveraging IPL to bounce back from the pandemic induced business lull & changing consumer habits created by the lockdown?

COVID has been a tailwind situation for the telemedicine industry. Like demonetization was to digital payments, COVID is making an adaption of online healthcare exponentially faster. More and more individuals are now open to talking to a doctor online. We believe that over time, entry to healthcare for an individual will start with teleconsultation and then move to physical consultation, labs, and others as required. As mentioned, we plan on leveraging IPL to enhance our reach to a wider audience which falls in line with our endeavor of quality health care, for every Indian.

Pre corona v/s post corona: has IPL marketing or sports
marketing in general changed dramatically? What are the key advertising &
marketing trends you foresee? 

Earlier, on-ground branding used to play a dynamic role in IPL/Sports marketing but due to the pandemic, the entire scenario has changed.

COVID-19 has also caused a change in consumer behavior. With social distancing keeping many people at home, we’re seeing major shifts in behavioral trends thus change in the advertising strategy. OOH & cinema will keep seeing a low, however, due to the increase in TV time & OTTplatforms, many brands will be able to strike off a balance.

Many advertisers have also adapted by following consumers, which means prioritizing digital advertising & creating a cost-effective presence over digital life.

Another trend that I have noticed is that new-age
brands are actually not hesitating now to go mainline even though they have a
decent digital space.