On day one of Goafest 2019, Amazon’s Ravi Desai, Flipkart’s Vijay Sharma and Myntra’s Achint Sethia discussed how the role of marketing has changed.
Desai was the first among three to take to the stage and discussed some shifts in marketing. The director of mass and brand marketing at Amazon India first stated how the brands’ target audience has changed. “First we used to write pen-portraits of a broad cluster. Today, that model doesn’t work. There is a specific person identified through his or her brand behavior and that’s the target,” he said.
He then stated the importance of product experience in the marketing funnel before talking about the importance of ‘moments’.
He explained, “Earlier it used to be about prime time to capture eyeballs. Today, moments matter. Marketers have to think of key moments that matter to the customer.”
The next point he spoke about was measurement and how that has changed over the past few years. “People used to look for ROI through brand tracks. In this day and age, marketers have to measure demonstrated behavior and look for the next step,” said Desai.
He added that nowadays people don’t look for like-to-like products as competition and instead look for solutions.
He finished his talk by saying, “Brands used to get customers to be loyal and then reward them. In today’s day and age, look at democratising benefits and urge everyone to join.
Vijay Sharma, associate director, brand marketing and head digital media, Flipkart, was next on the dais to explain how one can create a brand for tomorrow by stating a perspective of building a brand for mobile in India.
He said, “It’s a great time to be in the creative and media industry. The means and ways of telling stories are changing. The way in which advertising is being told is also changing. The big brands of the past are not the top five anymore. The likes of Apple and Google are now the top brands.”
He added how differentiation is very little between products and how the customer has evolved over the past few years. “There’s over exposure and over-choice. This leads to marketers getting overwhelmed. Consumers are spending a lot more time with media and this has led to attention spans reducing. The way they interact with brands is also changing,” said Sharma.
He spoke about a pressure for brands to advertise every day in the digital era to stay in touch with the consumer which has led to marketing evolving.
He explained, “It’s all about managing a complex world. We at Flipkart have appointed various agencies for different kinds of work. What’s needed to create the right brand experience is a mixture of brand design and merge it with technology.”
Achint Sethia, vice president, marketing, Myntra gave the fashion perspective. “We are talking to aspirations of customers in terms of outfits. When we look at consumers, it’s about offering them fashion choices. They are keen to learn and get inspired when it comes to fashion. You have to understand the customer, who is impatient and needs gratification. People are overwhelmed by storytelling and they continue to seek it.”
