Video: "Airtel understood why one should advertise on digital": Komli's Gulshan Verma

Gulshan Verma, vice president and country head, ad network (India, US, and Canada), Komli Media, caught up with Campaign India at adtech 2012. 

On being asked how a brand should advertise to a consumer who is digitally evolved (aware of blank spots, can block ads), he said, “Two things that are critical are why the consumer should care about your communication message and why should he put it up as a status on his Facebook wall, or why should he share it within his network. These two things have to be figured out when one is to advertise to a digitally evolved consumer.”

Verma said that Airtel’s football campaign used the digital medium very well last year. He explained, “Airtel, as a brand, stands for finding passion and getting people together. They concentrated on football instead of cricket and used Facebook to target audience. Airtel gives one a perfect example of why people should advertise on social/digital media.”

We asked Verma how a brand can leverage social media across all platforms to which he replied, “You need to consider how to scale up the ‘word of mouth’ activity. The audience wants to be treated differently; you need to understand how they use different platforms to be able to engage consumers on them.”