Digital Marketing - The CMO Perspective - August 2009

8/21/2019 Digital Marketing - The CMO Perspective - August 2009

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DIGITAL MARKETING:

The CMO Perspective

Whitepaper Paper

in association with


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Research f or StrategyIMA

IMA India surveyed Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) from 52 organisationsin the domain of consumer

marketing both Indian and multinational to understand their views on various aspects of digital

marketing. Among other things, the survey sought to understand how the priority accorded to digital

media might change in the near future. The survey was undertaken through a structured questionnaire,

complemented with select interviews. To gain credible and authentic insights, the survey sample was

restricted to top management of respondent companies.

The survey was undertaken by IMA India in association with Sapient Corporation , one of the

worlds leading global business, marketing and technology service firms. Sapient provided inputs

towards the formulation of the survey questionnaire and also offered ideas and suggestions for inclusion

in this report.

The information contained in the following pages is based on views and responses of the companies

surveyed, together with a commentary by IMA India. However, IMA India cannot assume any

responsibility for the outcome of actions initiated, or decisions taken, as a result of the information

contained in this document.


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CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4

EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF DIGITAL MEDIA 5

Understanding CMO Priorities 5

Growth 5

Advertising 6

Winds of Change: Changing Media Consumption Habits 6

DIGITAL MARKETING:THE EXTENT OF USE 9

Digital Medias Share Of The Budget Pie 9

Split ting The Pie: Relative Evaluation Of Digital Media Types 10

COMPARING EXPECTATIONSAND RESULTS 12

Evaluating Results From Digital Marketing 12

The CMO Mantra: More Spending in the Digital Domain 12

Digital Vs Traditional: Shall The Twain Meet? 13Factors That Work Against Digital Channels 14

Success and Failure of Digital Campaigns 14

PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS 16

ABOUT THE PUBLISHERS 17


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The modern marketing manager faces several challenges today, but the most complex remainsamongst the most perennial how best to propagate awareness of his product or service, in a mannerthat will raise sales and profits within limited promotional budgets and increasing competition.

For many businesses, digital media promises to deliver greater flexibility and lower costs in reaching outto prospects and customers. In response, pioneering marketers are already spending a significantproportion of their marketing budgets on digital media, and according to IMAs survey, this figure seemsset to rise further. With technology continuously making deeper inroads into peoples lives, it is inevitablethat digital media will take a larger piece of the marketing pie.

Much, however, depends on the efficiency with which CMOs utilise the digital channel. Not allorganisations have come to terms with either the capabilities or the limitations of digital mediacampaigns. Many are still grappling with how to effectively incorporate digital media into their marketingstrategy. The world of digital media continues to evolve and consequently, the way people access dataand interact and communicate with each other is also changing. Even as that offers a growingopportunity, it also makes management of this new medium difficult. Organisations need therefore tounderstand this phenomenon deeply. The decisions that must be made are difficult, relating to choicesbetween channels and identification of the right messages that need to be conveyed. This is apart fromthe usual constraints regarding budgetary allocations, the proportion of allocation to traditional marketingvis--vis digital marketing and most importantly, measurement of metrics related to responses andtargets reached.

The CMO survey, which sought to understand some of these issues, led to some interesting findings. Tobegin with, understanding consumer behaviour remains the headline challenge for the ChiefMarketing Officer. Viewed in combination with the fact that CMOs still see enormous untappedopportunity in existing markets, this clearly points to the criticality of being able to gather andmonetise consumer insight.

Not surprisingly, CMOs expect significant changes in their consumers media consumption patterns and their own media mixes are changing to reflect this. The greatest element of this change is theshift towards digital media. Already, the average CMOs advertising budget allocates 17% of its fundsto digital media. And with almost 90% of the responding group having launched digital campaigns insome form or another, it is obvious that this channel will command an increasing share of the marketingRupee in the months to come. Indeed, when presented with a hypothetical budget cut possibility, CMOsdid not hesitate to indicate that traditional channels, particularly print and TV advertising, would be thefirst on the chopping block, well before digital channels perhaps a subtle admission of the fact thatthey are currently over-spending on the former.

Of the subset of digital channels, website, email and banner campaigns were said to be the mosteffective. Interestingly, the mobile channel (which has the highest penetration of all digital media) wasconsidered to be the least relevant in terms of efficacy.

With 90% of the respondents reporting satisfactory results with their digital campaigns, it isunequivocally clear that digital marketing will become an increasingly critical part of their marketingstrategy. However, where results have been below expectations, the overwhelming cause is inadequateunderstanding about how best to use this channel. This is only to be expected, in view of the factthat digital channels are a relatively new phenomenon. One could reasonably expect the failure rate todiminish further as CMOs and as importantly, their agencies and partners develop a deeperunderstanding of this subject. Equally, CMOs must learn to set the right expectations from thesechannels (for instance, the general consensus from the survey is that digital marketing is currentlypreferred more for information dissemination exercises than for corporate branding purposes). In thefinal analysis, the survey findings point to a critical trend the rise of the digital channel in the overallmarketing mix is inexorable and accelerating, but the most successful marketing strategies will bethose thatintegrate digital marketing efforts more tightly with traditional initiatives at the current

time. As CMOs come to terms with these prerequisites, one would expect to see dramatically higherspending on these channels together with increasingly sophisticated campaigns.


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EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF DIGITAL MEDIA

Severalcompetingpriorities

butunderstanding

consumerbehaviour

remains theforemost one

UNDERSTANDING CMOPRIORITIES

With competition increasing and pressure on margins forcing organisations to performbetter than ever, Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are a hard-pressed lot. Their brief ofgrowing a brand or an organisations profitability has led to a rethink on their priorities.The illustration below offers a view on issues that are foremost in the minds of CMOstoday, ranked in order of importance.

CMO prior ities

100.0

92.7

85.2

64.4

49.5

47.0

20.5

Underst anding cus tom er behaviour

Developing m ore effective m ark eting and

comm unication s trategies or channels

Measur ing the effectiveness of m ark etingspends or initiatives

Measur ing the value of brands

Identifying the right m ark eting partners

Creating gr eater aw areness and

appreciation about the marketing function

Other

Norm alised w eighted average score

Normalised weighted average takes into account the proportional relevance of each factor, rather thanassigning equal weights to each factor. The highest ranked factor is given a score of 100.

Clearly, the highest priority is accorded to understanding the mindset of the consumer.This, together with the second highest priority of developing more effectivecommunication channels, is spawning a growing interest in digital marketing giventhat it allows greater and more effective engagement with consumers. Anotherobjective high on the list of CMOs priorities is the ability to measure the effectivenessof marketing spending. CMOs face the challenge of optimising marketing budgetsacross channels and aligning them with the financial payoffs for such investments.Once again, by its very nature, digital media is favourably placed. In many instances,digital media, if deployed effectively, can deliver results quicker and with more reliablemetrics than traditional media, to measure this rapid response.

As marketing leaders, CMOs need to combine their passion for customers with a

business value mindset, creativity with rigorous analysis and brand-building strategieswith hard-nosed tactical execution. In the words of Lee Iacocca, marketing must "lead,follow, or get out of the way."

Exploitinguntappeddomestic

potential is akey objective

GROWTH

When it comes to means of achieving growth, expanding the market pie is the greatestperceived opportunity by CMOs. With this in mind, entering new markets andexploiting untapped market potential are seen as the major avenues of growth. It isevident that CMOs believe that there still exists significant untapped potential in Indiasconsumer market.

Redistributing market share by drawing rivals customers to ones fold is also animportant avenue, followed by inorganic growth opportunities. Expanding overseas hasnot been cited as a critical area, but this may also be because of the nature of thesample. A large proportion of the surveyed respondents were CMOs of MNC


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How impor tant is advertising to your m ark eting

str ategy ?

Ad ver ti s ing

Critical

Component

Of Str ategy,

56%

We do not

advertise at

all, 2%

Adver t is ing

Carried Out

At A Bas ic

Level, 42%

subsidiaries, for whom overseas expansion may not be a relevant agenda item in thefirst place.

The surveyed CMOs also revealed what they believe to be other areas of growth,some of which were creating sustainable customer engagement programmes andenabling brand switch. Most of the respondents also agreed on devising an innovative

approach to marketing, with a propensity to explore the unknown.

Key growth opportunit ies for your company/product/brand over the next 2-3years

100.0

90.6

86.4

69.1

45.2

15.8

Exploiting un tapped poten tial in your

mark et(expanding the market pie)

Entering into new m ark ets/ market segm ents

Taking share from your competitors

(redistr ibuting the mark et pie)

Expansion/penetration through acquisitions or

alliances

Expanding to overs eas mark ets

Other

Norm alise d Weighted Aver age Score


ADVERTISING

Within the domain ofconsumermarketing,advertising clearlyreceivesoverwhelmingimportance. Notsurprisingly, overhalf the respondents(56%) stated thatadvertising was acritical feature oftheir marketingcampaigns. Withinthis segment,insurance companies and travel firms formed an important component. Interestingly,they are also amongst the most extensive users of digital media, such as the internetand mobile phones. However, as the integrity, security and penetration of electronicmedia improves, it is likely that other consumer-oriented businesses will begin toleverage the same in a bigger way.

MEDIA CONSUMPTION HABITS:WINDS OF CHANGE

In the words of one CMO, New emerging media are changing the set paradigms ofthe TV-print-radio combination. Earlier socio-economic classifications used to decide

media habits but now we have to look for mindsets for media habit consumption...

Consumersshifting to digital

Reflecting this sentiment, an overwhelming majority of respondents felt thatconsumers media consumption patterns would change over the next few years. A


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Expected changes in m edia cons um ption

patterns of the consum er over the next 3

years (% of res pondents)

Expect

minor

changes,

42.3

Expect

major

changes,

53.9

Expect no

change,

3.9

media large part of this majority also stated that digital media would be their preferred modefor marketing in the time to come.

This is not surprising, as wefind that large sections ofsociety are ensconced in thedigital age, be it through

penetration of mobile phones,digital TV or the internet.Features such as broadbandconnectivity and mobiletelephony have improvedvastly, as technology hasentered the mainstream in alarge way, thus enablingconsumers to experience

high quality content at the tip of their fingers. India is witnessing an addition of almost10 million cellular subscribers every month, a number which has grown to well over400 million active connections. Internet access is also available to over 50 millionIndians. Even television is beginning to offer new opportunities for marketing, with the

advent of Direct-To-Home (DTH) technology.

Sector-wis e expectation of change in m edia consum ption patterns

(% of respondents)

40%

100%

80%

40%

50%

33%

75%

42%

60%

20%

60%

40%

33%

25%

58%

10%

34%

Banking

Travel & touris m

Insurance

Auto

FMCG

Telecom

Air line s /Hos pi tal it y

Other

M ajor ch an ge M in or ch an ge No ch an ge

Travel,insurance and

hospitalityexpect the

greatestchanges

The travel and tourism, insurance and airline/hospitality industries seem to be at easewith adapting to digital media, as are some financial services and IT concerns. Theirexpectations of changes in consumers media habits are the most dramatic. Thisstems from the increasing transparency of providing product-related information andease of carrying out transactions in these industry segments.

As a CMO put it, With broadband easily available at home, digital media is playing a

critical role in educating the customer. This will have a major impact on how customersvalue a brand and how marketers should engage prospects. Another avenue isexperiential marketing and there have been numerous examples of brands effectivelyengaging with prospects and converting them to evangelists.

To take an example, one prominent insurance firm engages customers interactively,by targeting young consumers to look upon financial security at an early age, using theinternet to simulate financial planning. The website is designed for repeat visits,achieving two primary objectives: increasing product awareness as well as leadgeneration. The product is effectively showcased, increasing the likelihood ofgenerating new business.


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Decision makingwill therefore,become morespontaneous

A shift in the pattern of consumer decision-making to more spontaneous, technology-enabled responses based on electronic media is also expected. Decision-making islikely to be based on quality and experience. Other consequences of consumersevolving media consumption patterns include greater prominence to interactive media,particularly online interactive media, and secondly, greater usage of out of home(OOH) advertising and viral media.

Shift expected in media mix towards digital media in the near futu re

% of Responden ts

52.0

42.0

6.0

37.343.1

19.6

A m ajor chang e A m inor chang e No chan ge

Next 12 mon ths Las t 12 mon ths

Most CMOs willgive greater

importance todigital channels

in their mediamix

Reflecting changing consumer patters, digital media is acquiring increasing importancein CMOs media mix. 43% of the respondents have witnessed a minor change in thelast twelve months towards digital media and 52% of them expect a major change intheir media mix towards the same in the next twelve months. Interestingly, a number ofcompanies from the financial sector indicated that their media mix had not changedsignificantly towards digital channels, in the previous 12 months. This can be perhapsbe attributed to the dire situation in global financial markets during this period.Understandably, players may have been relatively conservative in their approach tomarketing and may have avoided a shift towards what is still an evolving media.

Nevertheless in overall terms, a whopping 92% of surveyed CMOs expect somechange in their media mix towards digital channels. Perhaps the best example of thegrowing importance of this trend is reflected in a recent landmark initiative by the CocaCola company. The company has launched an online campaign for a new productlaunch, before commencing a traditional media campaign. Known to spend a largeportion of its overall revenue on traditional advertising and marketing, this is regardedas a revolutionary step for the FMCG sector in India. This follows on the heels of otherFMCG brands also ramping up their digital marketing plans. Coupled with the fact thata majority of respondents expect a shift in the media interaction pattern of theirconsumer, this reaffirms that CMOs are fast juggling their media portfolios.


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DIGITAL MARKETING:EXTENT OF USE

DIGITAL MEDIAS SHARE OF THE BUDGET PIE

Print and TV stillcommand a

lions share ofthe budget

To put things in perspective, its not as if digital marketing has overthrown traditionalinitiatives. A break down of the average CMO advertising budget shows that print andtelevision media are still the two most preferred means of advertisement. Digital mediais however, a close third with 17% of the advertising budgetary allocation. Othercomponents of advertising are radio, outdoor, cinema advertisements and contest-based microsites.

Break up of the advertising budget

Print , 24.7%

TV, 19.4%

Radio , 4.5%

Digital,

17.0%

Other,

16.7%

Outdoor,

10.0%

but digitalmedia spending

is set to grow

But the allocation to digital media seems set to grow. This is clear from the fact that88% of the surveyed CMOs have launched campaigns with a digital component in thelast 12 months, and 92% plan to do so in the next 12 months. This is driven by the factthat digital media is more cost effective and has a greater ability to convert targets intoactual consumers. Coupled with the relatively greater ease of measuring conversionrates from digital marketing, CMOs clearly foresee higher returns on advertisingexpenditure through such media.

% of respondents who have launched marketing campaigns with a digi talcomponent/plan to launch any such campaign in the next 12 months

12.5

8.3

87.5

91.7

Launched digital

campaigns

Plan to launch d igital

marketing

No Yes


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Digital m arket ing w ill take on a greater focus in

marketing strategy

38.8

36.7

10.2

12.2

Strongly Agree

Ag ree

Disagree

Stro ngly Disagree

% of res pondents

SPLITTING THE PIE:RELATIVE EVALUATION OF DIGITAL MEDIA TYPES

The internet isby far the most

popular

With the proliferation of broadband internet access, the internet is fast developing as apreferred vehicle for reaching the consumer. For most web-savvy marketers, search

is the most relevant form of digital media, as this is the most basic and all-pervasiveactivity undertaken by their consumer targets on the web. Not surprisingly, this is ratedthe most relevant digital channel by the surveyed CMOs, followed closely by emailmarketing and social networking.

% of respondents who have launched/plan to launch digital marketingcampaigns over the last 12 months

(by sector)

100.0 75.0100.0 87.5 83.3 82.4 83.3

50.0

100.0 100.0 75.0 87.5 83.3 82.4 66.7100.0

Ai r line s /

Hopitality

Travel and

Tourism

Telecom Ins urance FMCG Other Autom otive Bank ing

Have Launched Plan To Launch

Hospitality and

banking are themost bullish on

the use of digitalmedia

It has been observed that products that offer greater speed of delivery and value to the

customer are the ones that turn to digital channels to create awareness andmindshare. Not surprisingly therefore the airlines/hospitality sector bears the mostpositive outlook for digital media: all respondents have used it in the past and plan todo so in future. The travel and tourism and banking sectors look upon the increaseduse of digital media optimistically as well a larger proportion of respondents plan touse digital media in the next twelve months than those who have in the past.

As larger numbers of young people develop a greater propensity to spend, thesesectors will look to adapt their marketing needs in order to target what will be anunavoidable demographic shift. Since the younger population is taking to digital mediain droves, it is only natural that CMOs acquire the know-how to target such consumersdigitally.

Hence, a majority of respondents (75%) felt that in the current economic climate,digital channelswould take on agreater focus in theiroverall marketingstrategy. This isbased on the beliefthat, with clearlydefinedtools/options, digitalchannels are morelikely to address therequired targetgroup as comparedto traditionalmethods. Other respondents argued that it was not necessarily in the context of theslowdown that digital media gained relevance. The ability to target and reach thecreamy layer and yet be cost effective over a longer time frame is an attractiveproposition by itself. For all these reasons, digital marketing will become increasinglyimportant for modern-day consumer marketing businesses.


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Relevance of digital channels to product/service

100.0

92.3

90.9

83.7

79.3

Search

Em ail

Social Netw ork ing

Digital Display

Adver t is ing

Mobile Advertising

Norm alised Weighted Average Score


This preference is reflected in the nature of digital campaigns in progress (see chartbelow). Website, email and banner advertisements are the three most popular forms ofdigital marketing. An important phenomenon to note is that the most popular digitalcampaigns are almost entirely internet-based.

Mobile and viral campaigns for example, are distinctly less popular than internet-basedtools, despite the greater penetration of mobile phones in India, compared to theinternet. Clearly, this is a result of the relative technological sophistication of theinternet (and indeed, of the average internet user) compared to mobile phones. In alllikelihood, it is only a matter of time before the latter achieve greater usage. Increasingbandwidth, the launch of 3G telephony, etc will ensure that such campaigns take on agreater role in the CMOs armoury.

Types of digital marketing campaigns in progress

% of res pondents

92.9 90.5 88.1

67.0

45.2 45.235.7 31.0

Webs ite Em ail

Campaigns

Banne r Ads Sear ch

Engine

Marketing

Social

Media

Mobile

Campaigns

Web Video Viral

Campaigns


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COMPARING EXPECTATIONSAND RESULTS

EVALUATING RESULTS FROM DIGITAL MARKETING

Rating of components of digital marketing based on results delivered

100.0

94.0

90.0

78.0

66.2

51.3

48.7

30.7

Website

Search Engine Optimisation/Marketing

Email Campaigns

Banner Ads

Web Video

Mobile Campaigns

Social Media

Viral Campaigns

Normalised Weighted Average Score Normalised weighted average takes into account the proportional relevance of each factor, rather thanassigning equal weights to each factor. The highest ranked factor is given a score of 100.

Websitecampaigns are

the mosteffective

When asked to rate various forms of digital media according to the results they deliver,CMOs unequivocally rated website campaigns as the most effective and viralcampaigns as the least. In that sense, their spending (in terms of campaigns actuallyin progress) is broadly consistent with the relative effectiveness of each channel.However, there are some exceptions. Despite being the second most effective channelin terms of results delivered, search engine based-marketing is not in evidence(amongst campaigns currently in progress) to the extent would have expected.

Rating digital marketing channels in terms of the objectives they achieve

100.0

95.3

90.5

89.5

Dissemination of Information about

Product

Buildin g Brand Equit y

Gene rating Sales

As a Cor po rate Bran ding Tool

Norm alised Weighted Average Score


Informationdissemination is

the primaryobjective

In terms of results, digital channels prove to be most effective in disseminatinginformation about the nature of the product. The next most important objectiveachieved by digital media is that of building the brands equity, closely followed bygenerating sales and as a corporate branding tool which are almost equally relevant.However, the difference is not substantial, implying that digital media prove to beefficient at securing fairly diverse objectives.

THE CMOMANTRA:MORE SPENDING IN THE DIGITAL DOMAIN

Over investmentin TV and print

advertising?

If faced with budget cuts, 33% of the respondents said that they would decreasespending on print advertisements, followed by 22% who would decrease spending onTV advertising. The least number of respondents indicated that they would decreasespending in social networking, digital display or radio advertisements. This data implies


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% of res pondents

4%

18%

6%

50%

22%

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Undecided

Agree

Str ongly agree

% of r espondents

Invest

less

4% No change

37%

Invest

m o r e

59%

that CMOs are potentially over-investing in print and TV advertising while under-investing in digital media. Hence, even as digital media do not spearhead marketingcampaigns at present, CMOs are clear that they will only increase spending in theseareas, not decrease it.

Areas in which reduction in overall marketing budget would lead to decreased

spending

33.2%

22.1%

13.0%

7.4%

5.6%

5.6%

3.7%

3.7%

1.9%

1.9%

1.9%

Print ads

TV ads

Other

"I don' t know "

Search

Em ail

Mobile ads

Radio ads

Digital dis play

Social networking

None of the above

% of res pondents

As new digital market ing channels emerge, how wil l they impact traditionalinitiatives?59% of the respondentsagreed that they would investless in traditional marketinginitiatives as new digital mediachannels continued to emerge,as compared to 4% who said

that they would in fact investmore in traditional initiatives.This is indicative of the rapidmutation of marketingstrategies in terms of themedia that they will use.

DIGITAL VS TRADITIONAL:SHALL THE TWAIN MEET?

Integration of

traditional anddigital marketing

initiatives hasbeen generally

achieved byCMOs

I believe that today my digital and traditional marketing initiatives are tightlyintegrated.

One additionalcharacteristic worth

exploring is the extentof integration betweendigital and traditionalmarketing initiatives.50% of the CMOs feltthat their traditionaland digital marketinginitiatives were tightlyintegrated with 22% ofrespondents goingone step further to saythat they were

strongly integrated. This is based on the recognition that the two types of marketing

initiatives are mutually inclusive, and hence they complemented each other anddelivered better results if used together.


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The benefits ofintegration

A multi-pronged strategy is increasingly found to be more efficient than one that relieson purely traditional or digital media. A notable campaign run by a well-recognisedFMCG brand involved pulling the customer to the product website through pushmarketing: target customers were approached through media such as SMS and email.Print media and TV were an essential component of this campaign, as they createdthe initial awareness of the website. The website then engages the customer in a

manner that reinforces the image that the product seeks to create for itself. Alsodriving the success of this format was that the product tied up with search-basedwebsites that directed traffic to the main product website.

must notoverwhelm the

need for distinctapproaches

However, those that disagreed with the integration approach had a different story totell. In the words of a CMO, Though the starting points are same and desired endresults also merge, one needs to approach both media independently due to theirunique needs and demands. The usage pattern and relationship of the audience withthese forms are very different and marketers need to have a strategy which is alignedwith each media. In other words, this school of thought believes that it can bebeneficial in certain circumstances, to keep the two forms of media distinct and un-integrated.

FACTORS THAT WORKAGAINST DIGITAL CHANNELS

Two factorssuggest that

perhaps digitalmedia is not thein thing just yet

Of the factors that work against adoption of digital media, the inability to understandthe metrics used to measure the effectiveness of spending came up as the mostimportant. This is inevitable, given that digital marketing is still a new phenomenon andbest practices and benchmarks are yet to be defined and followed. For the samereason, many CMOs cited the lack of adequate data on which to base spends. Anotherconstraint to faster adoption of digital media is the fact that vast sections of Indianconsumers are still not digital media-savvy for these audiences, traditional mediaworks more efficiently.

Constraints to greater adoption of digital media

100.0

92.9

77.8

76.8

73.7

66.7

24.2

Lack o f unders tand ing o f metr i cs used tomeasure e f fec t i veness o f spend ing

Lack o f data on which to b ase digi tal spends

Lack of under standing of potential of digi tal

channels to deliver value

Target audience is not digital med ia-savvy

Tradit ional me dia w ork s m ore eff ic iently

Inabil i ty to adapt traditional practices t o new

media

Other

Normalised Weighted Average Score

Normalised weighted average takes into account the proportional relevance of each factor, ratherthan assigning equal weights to each factor. The highest ranked factor is given a score of 100.

An interesting fact is that the least important factor among those mentioned is theability to adapt traditional practices to new media. This suggests flexibility in marketinginitiatives, and is corroborated by the finding that a majority of CMOs believe that theirtraditional and digital marketing initiatives are well integrated.

SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF DIGITAL CAMPAIGNS

Across the spectrum of respondents, an overwhelming 81% reported that they havelaunched campaigns with a digital component. More interestingly, of those who havelaunched campaigns, almost 90% claimed to achieve success vis--vis the objectivesthey had set for themselves.


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Most CMOsappear to be

successful withtheir digitalcampaigns

% of res pondents w ho have

launched marketing campaigns

w ith a digital com ponent

Yes

81%

No

19%

Digital cam paigns have achieved

the object ives s et

No12%

Yes88%

But a few who

are notWhile this result is encouraging, the greater value clearly lies in focussing on thebalance segment i.e. the digital campaigns that failed to achieve the objectives thathad been set for them. In this context, inadequate understanding about how to use thedigital channel tops the list of explanations, with the next most important concernsbeing inadequate budgets and setting the wrong expectations from digital campaigns.

Reasons f or lack of achievem ent of objectives of digital marke ting

campaigns

100.0

44.4

44.4

16.7

Inadequate under standing on our agency's

part about how to us e digital channels

appropriately

Inadequate budg ets

Setting the w rong expectations fr om digital

m edia campaigns

Other

Normalised weighted average score


For instance, banners put on websites and in emails do not necessarily convert thetarget into a user of the product service on offer. Similarly, some campaigns requirevideos to be uploaded by the target audience, which do not work too well in the Indiancontext, given that broadband penetration is still well below global standards of speedand efficiency. In such cases, the results are often incongruous with the expectationsthat these campaigns were conceived with.

will learn andadapt over time

However, even this result is encouraging: the concern clearly, is not the unwillingnessto experiment, but only the (inevitable) errors made in the course of experimenting witha new media. It is only natural to expect that these will gradually be overcome asCMOs (and their agencies) gain greater experience with digital tools and learn toleverage them more effectively.


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PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS

BY OWNERSHIP

Indian, 40%

MNCs, 40%

Joint

ventures,

20%

Joint vent ur es Indian MNCs

BYINDUSTRY

Banking,

11%

FMCG, 11%Other , 32%

Insurance,

15%

Travel and

tour ism,

7%Air li nes /

Hospitality,

6%

Au tom ot iv

e, 11%

Telecom,

7%


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ABOUT THE PUBLISHERS

IMAINDIA

IMA India is a boutique research firm that provides top management across corporations with researchon a range of market and economic issues. We service clients through two models: retainer-basedsubscription services and proprietary (customised) research. Our retainer-based services include threepeer group forums, The India CEO Forum; The India CFO Forum andThe India CIO Forum. These aremembership-based services providing senior managements with top-level country intelligence,economic analysis and industry assessments through research notes and closed-door briefings. Overthe last 15 years, IMAs forums have come to be established as authoritative platforms for seniormanagements, and currently have a membership base of almost 1,000 prominent companies acrossindustry sectors. Building upon this distribution, IMA also hosts conferences for top managementaudiences, which aim to facilitate genuine debate and intellectual exchange amongst like minded peers.

IMAs proprietary research practice undertakes investigative, strategy-oriented market research, thatinvolves a combination of desk analysis and senior-level interviews amongst industry practitioners and

specialists, with the intent of gathering first-hand opinions and insights. Leveraging the firms extensivenetwork of professional relationships, our proprietary research practice brings to the table highlyeffective and broad-based capability in undertaking strategic market analysis. IMA also undertakes data-intensive projects involving demand estimation and forecasting, scenario planning, industry modelling,etc. This capability is backed by a strong in-house research team with extensive access to data acrossindustry sectors/subject areas.

IMA also publishes CFO Connect, a monthly, first-of-its kind thought leadership magazine for the financefunction.

INASSOCIATION WITH SAPIENT CORPORATION

Sapient, a global services firm operates in two groups Sapient Interactive and Sapient Consulting

that help clients compete, evolve and grow in an increasingly complex marketplace. Sapient Interactiveprovides brand and marketing strategy, award-winning creative work, web design and development andemerging media expertise. Sapient Consulting provides business and IT strategy, process and systemsdesign, package implementation and custom development, as well as outsourcing services such astesting, maintenance and support.

Sapients passion for client success evidenced by its ability to foster collaboration, drive innovationand solve challenging problems is the subject of case studies on leadership and organisationalbehaviour used by MBA students at both Harvard and Yale. Leading clients, including BP, EssentEnergie, Hilton International, Janus, Sony Electronics and Verizon, rely on the companys uniqueapproach to drive growth and market momentum. Headquartered in Boston, Sapient operates acrossNorth America, Europe and India.


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Documents

Digital Marketing - The CMO Perspective - August 2009