'Brands will reap benefits of investing in first-party data, building ties with customers'
To decipher strategies that brands are adopting to reach consumers that are becoming elusive day by day, Rajeev Dhal, Chief Revenue Officer of Lemma Technologies (An organisation pioneering innovation in ad tech across multiple emerging formats like connected TV, digital out of home, retail audio and more) got into a conversation with Utsav Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer of Noise at the Pitch CMO Summit 2024. Malhotra stated that today's consumers whom we often call "digital nomads" are toggling between devices throughout the day. “Look at your own behaviour; you jump from one to another to another through the day. Now typically the demographics of this consumer are younger and belong to niche communities who very often are privacy conscious. They may own seven devices but don't wish to be reached out by anyone.” Reaching and targeting these consumers is probably the biggest paradox that brands are dealing with right now. Now, Noise being a digital first business with digitally active consumers, it's easier to reach them when dealing with first party data, as per Malhotra. This is because, fundamentally for a digital brand those 6-8 touch points start getting conversion for them to flow through the funnel effectively. “The conundrum therefore is, how are you going to do it? One is you have to have an omni-channel presence on all these platforms where digital nomads sift through, because they are not consistent,” he added. Malhotra further suggested the digital consumer has a short attention span and therefore brands have to continue to bombard them across multiple touch points with consistent messaging. But more importantly brands need to build the core of data, because unless that layer is built, brands will struggle since the laws and privacy regulations have become tighter. According to him, Noise is very unique that way, where they are able to build, cultivate and nurture first party data. They are present across multiple touch points like short format reels, YouTube video, digital targeting in terms of Facebook, but also mainstream OTT. “This is a consumer that is picking up snackable content, so as a brand, if you're not making that snackable content, chances are they'll glide over,” Malhotra said. Another very important factor is personalisation. Brands have to speak to this digital consumer in a language, in a setting, in a context that they understand, and that starts on the basis of this data, highlighted Malhotra. The challenge is that personalisation is under scrutiny across the world. Even though AR VR technology is very exciting, but not at scale. Malhotra said, “You can't reach enough people and you can't deliver all the messages. Now, we have invested heavily, we have put all into DOOH and connected TV, why? Because we believe context is the new way of targeting.” He underlined what's important is to understand that whilst ways of communicating have changed, it's also the consumer that's fundamentally changed and how they're consuming the brand. Television was a great medium and content was king, but now context is king. This is why marketers have to get to the consumer in moments where they can connect. Therefore, influencers become important. They were not a huge deal till sometime back, but they build relatability and build that bridge in terms of getting the brand message across. He further opines when it comes to connected TV, the real merit lies in the ability of brands to be able to sift through those filters. “But today, the brand clutter has also increased and hence the reason to be able to cut through that makes it difficult for brands to hyper target. 10-15 years ago, I realised that there were probably about five brands in a segment that dominated and segmentation had played out,” he said. It was easier for Malhotra’s brand to build that emotional connect with messaging and content alone. Today, there is so much that's happening and the brand needs to be able to stand out. What AI is solving for today is to be able to deal with data packets at scale. A lot of brands today struggle with not having enough scalable data points. The moment the brand starts building those and wants to personalise or extrapolate those data for insights, then they will need AI for personalisation. So AI is going to define and sharpen tools. Malhotra concluded, “For brands, it will be challenging times unless they’re investing in first party consumer data or building direct ties and engagement with the consumer, times ahead are going to be tough. The brands that are doing that are going to reap the benefits of it.”
Tags : Rajeev Dhal Pitch Cmo Utsav Malhotra