How can brands boost their Festive ROI through the right media mix

Festive Marketing Camp 2023 by Social Samosa held a session featuring industry stalwarts who shared their thoughts on the process of finding the right media mix to connect with the audience while recognising the changing landscape of advertising. 

The panellists: 

Ashutosh Nagare, VP - Performance Marketing, Interactive Avenues (Moderator)

Gaurav Sharma - Lead, Media Marketing at McDonald's

Gayatri Makhijani Ray, Head, Brand, Creative & Media at Intel India

Jaikishin Chaproo, Head Media & PR, ITC

Swati Nathani, Chief Business Officer, Co-Founder, Team Pumpkin

Here are the highlights from the same.

Right Media Mix

Jaikishin Chaproo spoke about the fragmentation on television in the current media setup, the convergence happening between PR and social media, and the explosion taking place in the digital sphere. 

He mentioned that TV and digital are an appropriate mix while one must keep their specific slice of audiences in mind. He went on to say, “Right now if you look at young Indians, OTT and digital platforms have taken a good chunk of the audience. Marketers will, without doubt, invest in mediums that have this set of audience.”

Gaurav Sharma opined that the 60 to 40% share of TV and Digital respectively is a safe bet with respect to the media mix.

Swati Nathani added, “There is no one formula that can work across brands when it comes to ‘the media mix.’ You need to deep dive into the brand’s user journey and their consumers to actually understand their custom media mix.”

On the subject of selecting which channels work best from an advertiser perspective, Jaikishin Chaproo compared India’s television viewership to an hourglass with one end consisting of kids and the other made up of the older generation, referring to the adult population’s shift towards OTT and digital as the hourglass notices a dip.

He went on to elaborate that there are markets where an agency might start with digital channels and then move to TV while in other cases it's the other way around. 

Adding to the conversation, Swati Nathani spoke about the importance of LinkedIn and the fact that several brands shy away from using it as it is slightly expensive.

“We have sold lifestyle products, and packages on LinkedIn and it has done very well for us. What works in favour of LinkedIn is its ability to target specific people” she added. 

“Emailers and push notifications work very well and can be explored much more than they are today” she further said. 

Investing in the Men’s Cricket World Cup

The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup is clashing with the festive season this year and there are eyes on the game, not just because cricket is a festival in the country, but also because India is hosting the tournament this year.

With regards to how and where brands should invest their assets, Gaurav Sharma elaborated that the World Cup gives instantaneous reach whereas a sustained campaign gives a brand a better opportunity to sustain for a longer time. He also said that the tournament slots cost brands a lot, disrupting annual budgets. 

"Investing in the World Cup depends on the brand’s requirements and several other nuances involved in the process. Brands have to be cognizant of whether to expend such huge budgets for the World Cup. You can broad target for the bottom of the pyramid and sharp target for better conversion.” 

Swati added, “The World Cup is for the small elite selection of brands that use the event as a vehicle to drive conversations. If your campaign is creative, no matter the event, be it World Cup, festive or a random day in July, it will float.”

How AI helps channel media spends

On AI’s role in helping advertisers, Gayatri Makhijani Ray believes that it helps bring in a layer of personalisation at scale so that there is an opportunity for doing mass outreach using hyperlocal creatives, messages, and geo-targeted messages.

She also added that AI tools allow agencies to build a lot more creatives at a lower cost helping stay relevant with the messaging. 

Media attribution  

Swati Nathani compares measurement and attribution during the festive period with an analogy about team sport. In 'team sport', if a particular player does not do well, they are not dropped from the team immediately and are given a second chance. 

He believes the same can be applied to measuring metrics and a particular platform cannot be dropped if it does not do well; it's rather a collective effort. 

Gayatri Makhijani Ray expressed, “Attribution is not just a digital problem but an overall marketing problem.”