Brand Activation | ‘The future is consumer specific not location specific’

‘While we learn only 10 per cent of what we read, 20 per cent of what we hear and 30 per cent of what we see; we learn fully 80 per cent of what we experience’ – William Glasser.

A deluge of competitive messaging is being launched at the consumer at every touch point: @home, @work @Play; information today is available on the go. As a reaction to this, the consumer, on the other hand, has matured to demand higher quality, better service and more importantly, customisation. The outcome, consumers have become research oriented. This heightened intelligent consumerism, coupled with intense competition from domestic as well as international brands, all more or less claiming similar core product values in their messaging and of course, the thunderstorm of recession, has left little breathing space for today’s marketers.

We look for minimal spillover with maximum influence. Three factors driving this trend are Measurability, Focus and Innovation. While traditional mass media is the pathway to achieving awareness and mass delivery of information, for the core primary consumer of a brand, experiential marketing plays a vital role in reaching out and activating the brand at the right time with the most critical last mile that drives consumer recruitment – experience. When both medias complement each other, the enhanced ROI is evident. While it varies from industry to industry and brand to brand, the trend is strongly evident, increasing budgets are being planned towards driving consumer experiences.

Brand Activation is an evolving genre, which has caught steam in the past decade, however, it is now that we are beginning to utilise its full potential. Solutions are increasingly channel neutral and marketers seldom utilise one media to make the consumer experience enriching. Brand Activation has taken a holistic approach with potential to integrate mobile, online, social media and WOM or PR within its offering as a consumer experience driven solution. While all media is up for the taking the real clincher is result orientation. In short, the greatest innovation is working towards and delivering against the brand objective.

The attitudinal change in expecting more out of the Brand Activation canvas has long begun, is well on its way and would soon start to snow ball. The need is to start looking beyond the obvious, bringing in a more realistic integration of creativity and technology to deliver an enhanced ROI, is a call to action for the immediate future, if not the present. Besides the existing choices within activation, there also exists, with increasing possibilities, an opportunity to integrate new media to enhance the response and ROI of activations.

“The world is getting smaller and the market is getting bigger, yet this is not in contradiction, but in synergy.” The market is getting bigger, which accounts for more numbers, not just of the shoppers and viewers, but more numbers to SMS, higher numbers of email users, customised software, more Indians than ever before accessing the net, social media becoming the rage and so on. This gives the Brand Activation planner a larger opportunity for reach as well as to build synergy and efficiency of ‘The’ activation.

With virtually unlimited options when planning the activation, we are limited only by our thought. The idea translates into an activation, which has the definite option – to break or not to break clutter. This is a situation currently peculiar to the metros, wherein the audience is evolved and has a great deal of exposure to almost every type of activation. This has, to a great extent, led to a “was there, done that, what is new” attitude, which, in turn, reflects directly on to results of the best intended consumer experiences. In the current times, breaking the clutter has become a salient feature in almost every brief. Herein, the splash of colour added by relevant technology or, more importantly, by the understanding of consumer behaviour and how that’s used, which comes to the marketers’ rescue. It is the Bible for the activation planner. Media in activations is truly dynamic.

Lines are blurred now, the nomenclature of school contact programmes, road shows, college contact programmes, etc., is fast becoming redundant. There is only one emerging truth, which is that of the most effective solution against the specific objective. In this journey of achievement, if one defines a new nomenclature, why not! The future is consumer specific not location specific.

exchange4media (read the article here!)

While the road more travelled has its merits, in brand activation the easiest is no longer the best.

The attitudinal change in expecting more out of the Brand Activation canvas has long begun, is well on its way and would soon start to snow ball. Start looking beyond the obvious, bringing in a more realistic integration of creativity and technology to deliver an enhanced ROI, is a call to action for the immediate future if not the present. Besides the existing choices within activation there also exists, with increasing possibilities, an opportunity to integrate new media to enhance the response and ROI of activations.

“The world is getting smaller and the market is getting bigger, yet this is not in contradiction but in synergy” The market is getting bigger which accounts for more numbers not just of the shoppers and viewers but more numbers to SMS, higher numbers of email users, customised software, more Indians than ever before accessing the net, social media becoming the rage and so on. This gives the Brand Activation planner a larger opportunity for reach as well as to build synergy and efficiency of “The” activation.

With virtually unlimited options when planning the activation we are limited only by our thought. The Idea translates into an activation which has the definite option - to break or not to break clutter. This is a situation currently peculiar to the metros, where in the audience is evolved and has a great deal of exposure to almost every type of activation. This has to a great extent led to a “was there done that, what is new” attitude which in turn reflects directly on to results of the best intended consumer experiences. In the current times breaking the clutter has become a salient feature in almost every brief. Herein the splash of colour added by relevant technology or more importantly by the understanding of consumer behaviour and how that’s used which comes to the marketers rescue. It is the bible for the activation planner. Media in activations is truly dynamic.

A case in example of one such mix is that of a leading internet browser, while India is the 2nd largest internet destination the largest chunk of consumers are accessing the net from public terminals which is a unorganised space mostly in groups of 4-8 PC’s in a small shop or residential unit. Looking at this scenario the challenge was to ensure trials and usage of the new upgraded product while keeping in mind that to use the product which is software the hardware of a PC along with internet connectivity is mandatory. This would have a financial impact of 7$-30 $ per trial / per consumer using the conventional method(s) of experience at a mall, market or similar location. The solution was Brand activation at individual owned I-Cafes where the consumers were going specifically to access the net via existing infrastructure. The mammoth task of identifying over 1500 such establishments began each cafe was mapped and enrolled into the program; the browser was installed as default in 7235 Public terminals, contests and branding was integrated. The results spoke for themselves the Product was sampled to 8.1 million users during the campaign, positively impacting the share of the product in double digits. The campaign had a direct ROI of 115 customers per USD spent. Conventional activation plans would not only have been unable to estimate the result but in comparison would have been criminally expensive in this case.

With the ever increasing scope of innovations, technology and intelligent planning parameters, Activation has graduated to a far more advanced medium of consumer connect. The upgrade for the activation does come at a price however when evaluated against the enhanced consumer experience as well as the larger brand impact it more than levels itself out. Contrary to popular belief technology in many situations reduces the load on an activation considerably reducing the dependency on manpower alone and there by stretching the buck to cover larger markets. This is particularly true in contests and sweepstakes gone are the days of carrying bags and bags of responses from PO boxes, an increasing number of contest are now activated online with a back end management process in place via activation teams, however considering the internet penetration of the country these are more or less limited to the top 20 cities,

What is the growing need for such a dramatic change in the approach? A subtle attitudinal and behavioral change is visible amongst today’s consumers. The audience has become more tech savvy and their attention span has reduced considerably. The role of the activation agency has become all the more crucial in the wake of such an evolution, plugging in innovation, and or technology to help break clutter, and enhance ROI. This shift also significantly broadens technology's ability to interact with a customer, making the interaction more valuable for the brand and the experience more relevant for the consumer. It does not mean however that driving such effectiveness is easy but the results warrant that we not only make the effort but ensure the change and let the objective drive the activation plan rather than the other way around.

The possibilities are immense. Today our world is connected through SMS, Bluetooth, e-mails, viral, livewire, podcasts, wap, IVRS, networking sites, YouTube, DVR, and lot more. Consumers are reacting favourably to innovations and new mediums to enhance their brand experience. The key here is how we plan these innovations to bring about the desired outcomes and tie them into a measurable result against objectives? How can we add meat spice and colour to the activation templates? The ingredients pre define the outcome and make the dish more appealing to the refined palettes.

India’s First-ever -- Brand Activation Summit 2010

Unique consumer-connect strategies and Focused ROI to be the key highlights

New Delhi, India, March 15 2010:- Changes in consumer lifestyle are forcing brands and their agencies to rethink on the ways to communicate with today’s consumers. The changing landscape has accelerated growth in spending as brands continue to find ways to engage the ever elusive consumer.

We have always believed and demonstrated as a new age activation agency that Activation is no longer about just mediums or just creative’s. A whole lot of expertise across platforms has to string together. It’s the consumer who holds the reigns of communication, when planning is brand centric, focused on the desired result and guided by the nuisances of the consumer all other ingredients of media, mediums, creative, communication, innovation fall in place.

Jagran Solutions presents the first ever Brand Activation Summit. A platform for marketers, activation specialists & industry stake holders to explore, showcase & gauge the power of activations in the age of neo-consumerism. The summit would also be an occasion to share best practices & winning case studies focused at earning high return on investments. Join us as we head towards the only event of its kind in the industry. Date: 19th March 2010, Venue: ITC Sheraton, Saket, New Delhi.

The theme of the Brand Activation Summit 2010 is ‘Redefining the Return on Investment”. This one-day Summit will have three panel discussion sessions among an eminent panel of industry experts, case studies & an illustrative approach to activations.

Ambika Sharma, National Head, Jagran Solution said, “This summit is a platform for marketers, activation specialist & industry experts to share best practices, award-winning case studies, and discuss methods of earning much higher returns in the age of neo-consumerism. Advances in marketing strategies, changing media habits and focused approach are making activations an essential tool for communication benefits of products & services.”

Commenting on the initiative, afaqs said, “This is for the first time an activation Summit has been organized by afaqs group as well. ‘Brand Activation Summit” has got many talking in the last few days, and the summit will be held in Delhi.”

As an impact of globalism & evolving lifestyles; consumer media habits are witnessing a marked change. So are the marketing strategies to connect with them. With the existing economic conditions and the specific needs of consumer segments; Activation strategies are all set to play larger roles. We have already seen a marked increase in spends being diverted to activation for its more focused approach, ability to deliver live brand experiences & earning a much higher return on investments. With these developments: the measurability, creativity & operational efficiency are emerging as key drivers of a successful activation campaign.

Your feedback, questions and inputs are welcome. We will try our best to incorporate them.

Dancing Windows Icons & A Mime!

Bring alive the magic of Windows in your PC and your phone, in an innovative adapt of an international creative to deliver a unique consumer experience

Ever been tapped on the shoulder by Microsoft Word when shopping? Or seen kids playing with Internet Explorer in the middle of a mall? From today you just might at a mall near you, as Microsoft India initiated a unique on ground activation to showcase the magic of next-generation Windows across the phone & PC in a consumer’s life.

Windows Phones (powered by the latest Windows Mobile 6.5) and Windows 7 on the PC allow consumers to do all that they want simply & magically. They further allow consumers to carry the familiar, powerful functionality of Windows from the PC into the Phone, so that they can carry Windows with them all the time and continue doing all that they love!
With the launch of next-generation Windows, the brand is extending beyond its well accepted strength in a consumer’s work-life and highlighting the ‘fun’ aspect that it allows the consumer to indulge in. This is represented in the latest TV/ Digital creative’s from Crispin that can be seen here: International advertisement

“Familiar Windows icons engaging with consumers in a relaxed family environment help our technology leap out of the device (PC/ Phone) and strike a warm & pleasant emotional chord. It also brings alive the creative thought that we are using in ATL, allowing consumers to actually live the scenario depicted in the ads! In the process we are also irrigating the brand and evolving the usual technology product BTL activation from being just another product experience point” said, Guneet Singh, Lead – Integrated Marketing (Consumer & Online), Microsoft India.

In an innovative approach the launch activation, which is managed by Jagran Solutions goes beyond the conventional product experience and actually brings alive the ATL creative engaging consumers in the experience of Windows in their everyday lives. Unique mediums of messaging include visual theater acts which deliver product USP’s straight out of A Windows Phone, while the magic of touch enriches the consumers Windows 7 interaction. Thousands of consumers have been touched share their moments on Windows photowall here

“The activation promises not only an understanding of the product but also the bubbly fun interaction with the Windows Icons, watch out! as you may see Media Player jump out and tap you on the shoulder, or find your child walking hand in hand with MS Word as the Windows team stands by to capture your unique experience which you can share with friends and family”. Catch the excitement here!

Find out if there is really life after death for your phone? Click Here

The first phase of the activity will focus on cities like Delhi, Mumbai & Bangalore. In the second phase cities like Hyderabad and Pune would be covered. The activity started in the 1st week of November and will go on till the last week of December. Along with Microsoft key partner brands are HP for Touch PCs, Acer for Phones and Tata Docomo which is offering great data plans on Windows Phones.

Catch the event on Facebook here

Couldnt Make it to the event? Watch the mime in action online!

The Day the Windows ICONS Walked the Streets & Offices
All my mail @ one place (Click Here)
Idiot proof phone contact books (Click Here)
My social network goes with me everywhere (Click Here)
I just love to shop for my phone (Click Here)

This weeks Schedule ( 19th & 20th December)

Delhi NCR: Ambiance Mall -Gurgaon
Mumbai: Oberoi Mall - Goregaon
Hyderabad: Citi Center Mall
Bangalore: Garuda Mall

Kids are no longer influencers, but a market by themselves!

With the new academic year arriving with full steam, we in this post address an increasingly important market. Yes, we are talking about kids, the new generation brand evangelists. Market estimate reveals kids spend an estimated $4.2 billion annually on their personal purchases. The approximate market size influenced by children is $100 billion causing many millions of purchases among their parents. Interestingly kids have matured from persistent nagging to importance nagging, in what is recognized as ‘pester power. This appeals to parents’ desire to provide the best for their children. This combined with parental guilt plays the critical role in spending decisions, as time-stressed parents tend to substitute material goods for time spent with their kids. So kids, from just being influencers, have now become ‘active consultants’ and ‘information provider’ to parents on most household purchase decisions. This change can be attributed to the conventional and new-age media consumption habits of kids and their increasing comfort levels with modern technology. Resultant effect: 63% of kids are involved in a spectrum of product categories from clothes to bicycles to computers and cars. Mobile phones get 76% involvement while cars enjoy 43% of kids’ involvement. Parents believe that their children do research and express opinions about product categories.

Since all marketers more or less agree that Kids are an important fragment of their target audience if not their audience in totality, schools provide the most relevant concentration of this audience in an almost perfect synergy of possibilities. It delivers a captive youth audience and implies the endorsement of teachers and the educational system. Marketers and activation agencies have been quick to realize the power of the school environment for promoting their brand and products. What’s more the school contact program is no longer the novelty it was a decade ago. However there is a downside to having an intelligent and informed audience, the “gatekeepers segment” with parents and teachers which cannot be alienated in the communication process. This has resulted in a clear cut variable in measurability of a program in direct proportion its infotainment quotient.

A recently concluded study finds that babies as young as six months of age can form mental images of corporate logos and mascots. Brand loyalties can be established as early as age two, and by the time children head off to school most can recognize hundreds of brand logos. Research also shows that close to 90% of kids within 8-12 years of age prefer to act in a group than on their own. About half of them feel enormous pressure to wear the “right” brands. It’s hardly surprising that a whopping 90% of kids’ brand decisions are heavily influenced by their peers, worldwide.

In planning a successful activation for kids, identifying kid’s icons and what interests them becomes imperative. Most of us when planning the activation fail to ensure that it has the answers to a few relevant questions. Is the activation engaging for the kids? Is the gratification going to excite them? Is the communication going to capture gatekeepers’ interests? Is it going to breeze through their lives with little impact or will it capture their interest and tickle their imagination? If the answers to these questions are yes, then we have on our hands a successful activation which can draw long term benefit for the brand.

Scooty Aagey Badho is a case study that showcases these nuances. This PMAA award winning campaign demonstrates how asimple insight combined with an integrated approach saw the results of the activation measured by TNS India where in B category towns the reach in target group (daughters) increased by 833%, and the percentage of people that associated the brand with the communication increased by 950%. (Download Award Winning Case Study)

Come July brands will flock to the schools in a clutter of forms and color pencils, so which brands will seed and which will get washed in the flood of drawing paper? What will contribute maximum to the success of activation? The key will be the concept which should answer the critical questions coupled with an in-depth understanding of the target audience psychographic. It offers the best bet to pull off a market driver integrating the infotainment basics and building a communication strategy around a relevant subject, which ensures that marketing objectives can be well met through such activations. (Activating Kids View Case Studies)

If you have a mantra for activating kids or have experienced the impact of Pester Power in your sales/activations or have come across a memorable activation for kids, here is an opportunity for all of us to go back to basics & share insights to create powerful marketing campaigns to harness full potential of this exponentially growing Kid’s Market. There’s more to it. If you have learnt a marketing insight from your own kid, take this as medium to webcast your ingenious finding…

LET IT START WITH ME

Today we stand witness to the Mumbai siege, witness to people out on the streets and on air, in drawing rooms and in restaurants, to the funerals and tearful goodbyes, all demanding answers, buzzing with anger full of questions. We will talk about it some more till the flurry of activity slows its pace, till history repeats itself yet again, like it has every month of the year, every year of this decade. There is NO Peace!

“Peace is MY Birthright and yours too”. It is the most fundamental of all human rights common to all human beings irrespective of race, cast, religion, creed, age and nationality. We all want peace ……but In-spite of being much talked about Peace as a platform of Mass Movement fails to find a single consolidated identity There is so much we can say…Only if we are given the right platform… & when people come together, it does make a SOUND. So let’s join hands & Stand Up For Peace

It starts with me and you, each one of us. This is not just in memory of Mumbai, or Delhi, or Ahmadabad or a remembrance of the various acts of terror which have affected us, but is the start of a movement...which will lead to a simple awakening. We all need to “Participate in the process of being peaceful” In order to Stand up for Peace we need to consciously exercise our power to think and our right to question and reject any ideology, religious beliefs, passions or prejudices propagated by any political party, leaders or even relatives/parents which instigate us to commit an act of violence against another human being. More than ever today we need to participate in the process of ensuring we have secure, safe & peaceful surroundings. It’s time to stop just talking and start doing.

An action which will enable us to do our bit in making our surroundings more secure. Offices, Schools, Campuses similar establishments are vulnerable. Do not have basic security. No trained guards let alone security agencies of the state. Basic security & safety mandates for such places can help avoid a crisis situation, why only terror our schools, campuses and establishments do not even have a fire drill, an alarm, a training in evacuation. Such basic mandates will go a long way in managing and albeit avoiding crisis.

When we say “Peace is My Birth Right, Let it start with ME” it means more than just demanding it for myself from others It asks for everyone to support it on a common understanding that this is not something I, you or a few of us can do alone. It will take a large body of people from amongst us, from Ideas to implementation of the change, is the plan. Focusing on three broad establishment types Offices, Campuses & Schools, Put and implement a mandate covering (and additions to this are welcome) basic security, evacuation plans, communication for people to support and accommodate security measures

What will it take to activate a nation? We ask corporates, security experts, media, journalists, bloggers, teachers, professors, students, brands, companies, artists, and individuals, each and every one of us to come forward and participate in forming and implementing this MANDATE. To make Homes, Offices, Buildings, Schools, Campuses & City safe, better equipped to manage crisis. Share your thoughts and ideas on simple effective steps towards a better and secure establishments here in this space and participate in making a real difference.

Please back link, share, forward this post to everyone you know. If you would like to participate further in the process you can also write to us at conversation@jagransolutions.com

Conversation is the Opportunity in Change

The slowdown has affected every one: consumers as well as the marketers. Brands are cutting down on spends by as much as 20 per cent. This doesn’t mean companies will stop communicating to customers. On the contrary companies are realizing that a shutdown in communication will cause damage in long run. Thus the focus is very clearly on getting better return from marketing spends.

Get more for your money! Is a cliché, typically prompts the question “what can I get for free?”We are setting a precedent. It is possible to get more from the existing spend in an efficient manner.

Very recently we were presented with a unique marketing dilemma by a client, a leader in the online space. Our greatest take away from the proposal was not the well planned and applauded presentation but the fact that it’s ok to say NO. Say no to a campaign which we don’t believe can deliver in the present situation.

Also just stating this is not enough, it is important to get off that high chair get out of the AC office and get our hands dirty! So we took out the camcorder and went out to capture what consumer thought. Voila! The result was a campaign which was a big win not only for the client but for us as well. The need to add to an email base gave birth to the single largest college activation in the EDUCATION space. Adding 15% to their total combined email base in the country and delivering 50% more return than expected from the initiative. The program has been recognized as being the single largest contributor in assisting the fight against product competition.

In addition the strengths that equip us to partner our clients better in these troubled times: strategic clarity, creativity to innovate, ability to scale and keep an eagle’s eye on the outcome, we saw the need to open Larger Conversations!

Yes, we acknowledge the need to communicate better, in a relevant fashion and understand the changing business needs for the brands we partner. We are willing to listen if you are willing to speak. What do you want from your spend? What is your measure of success? What’s your current campaign spill over (yes it’s a stress on your budget reaching people who are not your audience). Drive acquisition, deliver experience, or engage your existing customers. What are your priorities? What is the distribution method? How has the change impacted the relationship with your target audience?

We have seen these insights vary from brand to brand even within same space. What has not changed is the fact that an effort to listen and open larger conversations has helped us increase results from campaigns by 15% or more.

So we are willing to put our money where our mouth is! If you have or want an activation plan, share it with us, we can increase the value which it currently delivers, thus enabling you to get more from your spend. If not we will forgo our fees and activate it for free!
So if you row in similar waters write to us in this space, share your thoughts, request case studies, or simply email us conversation@jagransolutions.com, whatever may be your request we promise to get back to you the very same day.

We also take this opportunity to share some special news. Our Delhi team has moved! To an office which better accommodates our growing team and its needs. Jagran Solutions Delhi snail mail address is now 84-Okhla Industrial Estate, Phase III, New Delhi -110020.
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