The concept of marketing has changed over time and it still continues to change till this day. Marketing supposedly evolved through classical stages as well as contemporary stages. With numerous brands coming into existence, the competition has led to stronger concepts of marketing. THE HIERARCHIAL GROWTH OF MARKETING- The late 90’s and the early 2000’s were an era when the primary driver of sales was mass production. Manufacturing effectively and efficiently was the main concern for businesses. Businesses believed that mass production was the marketing technique of the era. It was a simpler time with a simple marketing conception where marketers thought that if products would be made, consumers would just simply buy them. Then came into existence a sales era, which was the age of competition. Businesses could no longer easily sell their mass made products. It increasingly became more difficult for companies to sell products to consumers. This era is where we see the concept of marketing, as it is today, emerge. Companies had to aggressively promote their products and persuade consumers in order to sell products. Followed by this came an era which we now find ourselves in- the age of social marketing.  THE ELECTRONIC HIGHWAY OF MARKETING- This one was a game changer for the field of marketing. The internet and social media has opened up new gates of marketing for the diverse brands which has led to a strong digital marketing movement. In digital marketing things are always changing, evolving, and innovating. In the world of brand experience, the technology that helps us to advance our narratives is evolving at breakneck speed. It seems like every week we hear about a new device or application that promises to revolutionize the industry and open new doors for engagement. For marketers, it’s a pretty wonderful time to be alive. In 2016, we saw that the top five channels for marketing spend were Email, social, online display and retargeting, mobile, and search. But time flew and we saw brands emerging through social media platforms. The success story of brands like Nykaa, Shein and Amazon is not hidden from anyone. From fashion brands to beauty brands, electronic products, food and what not we consistently look to these apps for our every day necessity. Digital has really played an important role in coping with the complexities of creating the brand-customer relationship. Brands have taken a leap from traditional marketing practices and have shifted over to more modern times by incorporating strong digital presence in their marketing agenda. Ride-hailing company- Uber has rolled out a special campaign for world cup enthusiasts and have created a strong foothold on social media. Talking about the marketing strategies from their end, Manisha Lath Gupta, Marketing Director India South Asia, Uber, discussed about how Uber has successfully done a multi-country campaign this world cup for both Uber drive and Uber eats. “Uber is one of the associate sponsors of the ICC Cricket World Cup, which is happening in England and Wales, across June and July. For the first time, Uber has done a multi country campaign across 7-8 countries. And for the first time India has led that multi country campaign. And for the first time we are doing a campaign across Rides and Eats both. Traditionally, we have been operating campaigns quite separately. But for the World Cup, we have actually built a joint campaign across Eats and Rides. From a campaign perspective, what’s interesting is that we have tried to do as much brand building through this campaign as demand generation.” Adding, “There are four films. One of them has Shakib from Bangladesh, because he is also a brand ambassador of us. And this campaign is playing across Bangladesh as well. On the Eats side, just a simple demand generation campaign telling people that if they order on Uber Eats, they could actually get a chance to go see the World Cup”. Speaking more in detail about their digital marketing strategies at Uber, Gupta elaborates how they are leveraging their marketing on social media for this world cup. “On the marketing end, the World Cup campaign is the biggest that we’re going to be doing this year. So you can expect a lot of action over the next 45 to 60 days. We have some very exciting ideas on social, which you should watch out for. And they will roll out over the next 45 days. We have also put together a really exciting anthem Way-O, Way-O which has been sung by five singers from around the world and will also break towards the end of the month. It has been written by Sonal Dabral from Ogilvy, and the music has been crafted by Mikey Michael McLean. I think that should give us a long tail” said Gupta. BRANDING THEIR WAY THROUGH DIGITAL MARKETING- A Harvard study found that 64% of people say “shared values” is the main reason they follow a brand. They trust that the brand provides them with accurate information and follows through on what they say. 53.9% of people don’t trust commercials, infomercials or ads from a brand they don’t know. You can run ads all day, but if consumers don’t trust, they won’t buy. 78% of people say that they trust companies that build their brand on providing relevant, custom content. Branding increases company visibility online by over 400%. That translates to more traffic to your physical store. Convert it to sales. Now that has led to the rise of new term in the cluster of digital world and that is Digital Branding. WHAT IS DIGITAL BRANDING? Digital branding is a brand management technique that uses a combination of internet branding and digital marketing to develop a brand over a range of digital venues, including internet-based relationships, device-based applications or media content. It has emerged strongly over the last decade along with its roots from direct marketing. Avinash Pant, Director- Enterprise Business, Resulticks, enlightened us about how the digital sphere is changing the customer experience. According to pant, “Today’s customer is a well informed, and omni-channel customer who expects consistency of experience across channels offline as well as online. So, you have to engage with the at every touch point of their journey and talk to them one on one even within the crowd. This complexity will only increase and we can cope with only through a tech-enabled digital approach and mindset. Martech powered with AI and Machine learning will be evolving faster in the future and be the most efficient rivers to keep pace with the evolution of the digital media, thereby, impacting the customer experience at every touch point.” Agreeing to Pant’s statement on the importance of AI integration in the advanced marketing approach, Prashant Puri, CEO and Co-Founder, Adlift said, “Digital has the power of laser targeted messaging and adapting and improvising to customer’s buying patterns. Both these technologies driven capabilities gives digital the capability of significantly advancing the customer experience be it through intelligent AI integration, advanced remarketing or adopting voice technology to improve customer experience.” BRANDS JOURNEY FROM URBAN CITIES TO RURAL- The availability of internet throughout the country has been a blessing for brands, as well as consumers. The digital transformation has incorporated the newer trends like Artificial Intelligence, the key one being chatbots which are already embedded in many social messaging systems and ready for businesses to use for customer service. This has somehow maintained the brand - customer relationship. It is not just urban cities that are looking up to internet, rural areas have also discovered the wider aspects of the internet. Talking about how rural areas are seeing digital transformation, Ranjivjit Singh, chief marketing officer and senior vice-president of Samsung India talked about how in their recent campaign ‘India, Ready Action’, they are motivating youngsters to make short form videos which is turning out to be a great way of engaging the customers. “We brought all the insights together and prepared the ‘India, Ready, Action!’ campaign. It’s an invitation to millennials to showcase the real India as seen through their eyes. What we are asking them to do is shoot a video that’s up to 60 seconds long and share the same on Instagram with #IndiaReadyAction, followed by the hash tag that captures the essence of the video, like food, culture or entertainment. The best videos will then be set on an interactive map of India, which will appear on our website. If you visit Calcutta on the map then you will see your entry and those from others in the city. The campaign is open to everyone and you don’t need to be a Samsung user. Also, let’s not forget the new Samsung smart TVs, which can be used for video chats”, said Singh. CURRENT TRENDS OF DIGITAL ECOSPHERE- Digital transformation is a boon for the user; hence, everybody is now on their tabs and smart phones when it comes to shopping. Talking about the current trends of the digital ecosystem, Rohit Chaddha, CEO, ZEE- Digital Publishing emphasized on how digital transformation acts as a catalyst for growth by giving brands access to new markets and ways to reach consumers in a never before done manner. “AI and big data are the keys to make intelligent decisions based on past knowledge of consumers so as to deliver more personalized information and campaigns to enhance the user experience,” said Chaddha. Digital channels are mutually integrated with each other that support content. Content is one of the power houses for today’s marketing strategy for the marketers. “The most vital piece of digital marketing is – integration. It’s imperative that all channels of digital marketing speak to each other through a common central hub. To me this is content. A powerful content strategy is a must”, said Puri. THE ICONIC DIGITAL CAMPAIGNS- Browsing the social media pages and internet for some content has become a basic norm. Talking about the best digital campaigns of 2019, a year which is turning out to be tumultuous for marketers, Chaddha spoke about the Avengers Endgame campaign with Google. According to him the campaign was a big success because of its sheer simplicity. “Avengers Endgame campaign with Google was simple yet so effective that even a person who doesn’t know about Avengers will now search for the same to get all the information. It’s a great example to reach maximum people in the most impactful manner”, said Chaddha. Discussing about the favourite campaign Puri mentioned about Kent CamEye campaign. “Kent CamEye has captured significant market share by targeting the right audience via their content and customer acquisition digital strategies”, said Puri. Digital campaign is one of the ways of staying in touch with the consumers and users. Hence, the more engaging the content, higher are the chances of brand appearance. Thus, digital has somehow taken the road ahead of traditional marketing to make it more tech-savvy.