Moment Marketing – is the wave really delivering?

Pranshu Sikka, CEO, and Founder of The Pivotals scrutinizes the term "Moment Marketing " and it's prevalence in the future.

If you are an avid marketer, you will surely remember that famous Paytm tweet that took the internet by storm during the announcement of demonetization in 2016. No? Let us refresh your memory. Paytm simply put out this tweet that also included their tagline, while commenting on the situation.

There is probably no better example to explain the phenomenon called Moment Marketing – one that has come to the fore in recent years but has surpassed all forms of creative digital strategy. Today, it’s not enough to simply run static, standardized digital campaigns and expect to reap tremendous ROI. Across mediums, brands are beginning to take cognizance of staying updated with the times and making adverts that take current events into consideration.

What is Moment Marketing?

Moment Marketing initially began as a way of connecting with viewers both online and offline.

Today, as most of our audience moves online, Moment Marketing has evolved to create exciting campaigns or just single ads that encapsulate a current event to help brands reach a new and wider set of audience and not just their existing one.

And it’s easy to join the bandwagon, too. All you have to do is monitor viral trends, create an interesting social media post, advertorial or campaign around it, and sit back and wait as users make it popular.

Also Read: Done fast, done right! Moment marketing campaigns that got virality right…

Will it last long?

Today, consumers are a lot more responsive to personalization than ever before. An Adlucent survey found that seven in 10 consumers yearn for personalized ads. Another Epsilon report found that four-fifths of consumers are more likely to make purchases when a brand gives them a personalized experience. In a Segment survey, 71% of consumers were frustrated that their shopping experiences were too impersonal. Basically, the demand for personalized content is seeing unprecedented levels.

Brands have been quick to latch on to this trend that is transforming the advertising world. What was once limited to crafting a single narrative for mass consumption on televisions and billboards, has now moved to curate data and insights to deliver customized messages to consumers when and where it suits them best. Moreover, with Moment Marketing, when a consumer scrolls through an advertisement that has reference to a trending topic, it manages to create brand recall, while also scoring brownie points with an audience that is hyper-aware about pop culture.

And the trend will only grow. That is because technology has empowered this new-age audience to take control of conversations that are directed towards them. They have the tools to advocate, share their ideas, and hold brands accountable. This high level of involvement has changed everything.

For instance, Oreo's 2013 Super Bowl blackout tweet - Dunk in the Dark, instantly went viral.

Not just that, we have also managed to make it more sophisticated by bringing in the benefits of advanced technology, such as location data, to monitor and react at the right place and time, thus enhancing the effectiveness of campaigns.

Moreover, marketing calendars today offer a plethora of opportunities – right from shopping festivals, to general festivals, sports events, and countdowns to those events. As a brand, it would be criminal to ignore any of these or react with generic campaigns. In the age of mobile, moment marketing becomes even more crucial to capture your audience’s attention. Amidst the clutter of content, you have barely 20 seconds to make your audience stop and look at what you are saying. Hence, it is safe to say that we are going to see many more hyper-relevant ads in the near future.

But don’t go overboard

Having said this, it is also important for brands to say things that are true to what they stand for, instead of only talking about trends. Because if all you talk about are trends, consumers will fail to associate you strongly with one particular product, service or cause. It’s easy to get carried away by trends, but always remember to place relevance over everything else for purposeful consumer engagement.