IPG Mediabrand’s youngest media agency, Brand Programming Network, is using social media to bring the focus back on brands
Interpublic Group’s Mediabrands decided to add one more agency Network – Brand Programming Network (BPN) – to its offering earlier this year. The proposition of the youngest member: put spotlight back on ‘brands’. The premise: social media has opened fresh channels of not only communicating with the consumer, but also gauging consumer reaction towards media vehicles and monitoring consumption patterns. Insights from these channels can allow real time changes to media plans to bring optimum value to clients and ensure that the client’s monies are invested in the right properties.
And IPG Mediabrands chose India as the launch market for this offering. While BPN is a full-service media agency like its siblings Initiative and UM, at present it is focussed only on local clients. A situation that it looks to change soon, for which it has pitched for several regional and worldwide businesses already. But is there really any differentiator that this newcomer brings to the table? José Antonio Espinoza, President-International, BPN replies, “We are offering to maximize IPG Mediabrands’ internal resources and efficiently use its tools that haven’t been used before. We are already analysing traditional media, but we will use social media as the key source of information for us to provide real time insights to our clients. We are going to deliver audience attention 24x7. Based on these insights, we would eventually make better decisions on the kinds of plans we provide to our clients. By doing this, we would be able to maximize client investment and improvise real time to ensure they partner with programmes that are doing well.”
‘India office is going at the pace of three clients a month’
‘WE ARE NOT GOING TO BE ABOUT RATES’
The three-phased programme
BPN has outlined a three-phased programme to achieve this, and India is going to be part of the initial trial along with the US and Netherlands. BPN clients have been chosen in these markets for a three-month period that would assess BPN’s proposition by testing a specific combination of information. “The results will benefit not only BPN but Mediabrands per se, as it would be extended to the whole group. We are working on a format that will allow us to deliver on this proposition,” says Espinoza.
Efficiently using the suite of services available to Mediabrands is key to BPN’s strategy. Espinoza believes that the use of global tools can at times lose relevance while implementing at local levels. He says, “It is important to apply a global guiding principle that can be localized to adapt to a market but its fundamental needs to be the same across markets. When every market tries to customize it, things start to go wrong as every market tries to do its own thing. There is no commonality left among them after that. It is important to have a central resource that can ensure the same principle is applied worldwide, every one of us speaking the same language and then more information can be added locally.”
Some of the tools that BPN looks to use to the fullest are Matrix and MAP, including the digital brand Reprise. That is the first phase, where BPN is also working on new technology platforms to complement existing tools, which is why a trial period was required. “Starting with this in key markets including the US is going to be very simple. Delivering real time information is the second phase. By the third phase, we want to move to the final product and deliver the complete package in the main markets. And we want to get the basic product in the smaller markets,” informs Espinoza.
A three-year plan
BPN expects its final product rollout to take up to three years. While the trial phase is set to begin soon, initially it would apply only to a chosen few clients in the three key markets. The complete impact of it, across clients, would be only in 2013. Espinoza reflects, “Based on what we currently have, and the additional tools to provide information, 2013 is when the markets will really have the chance to work for the client on our proposition and differentiate BPN.”
BPN is going to be present in 20 markets worldwide in its initial phase. “We picked the US because it is the largest. Then there is India in Asia Pacific, Netherlands in Europe and Columbia in Latin America. These are the four pillar markets that will drive the region. We want to take baby steps right now and make sure it works. By the time we go from Netherlands to Belgium, it is proven that it works in Netherlands,” states Espinoza.
From the word go, India is amongst the key markets for BPN and the proposition it looks to explore. The India team is already working in sync with the global vision to achieve the goals that BPN has set out for itself.
Feedback: noorw@exchange4media.com
ARE BRANDS LISTENING CORRECTLY TO SOCIAL?
Social media can be an effective real time listening tool for brands to devise an overall communication strategy, but understanding the medium is critical
By PRIYANKA MEHRA
Where new age media agencies make Brand the hero, social media has raised its head as a potential real time listening tool if used accurately for brands to identify, engage and retain consumers, and even maximize returns on investment (ROI). Though this medium has given a new dimension to the term customer service, with the consumer now expecting and demanding a 24-hour turnaround, which implies that the image and the reputation of the brand is no more in the gloved hands of the brand and marketing managers but in the hands of a consumer who could be anywhere in Jabalpur or Ratlam. The consumer demands instant response, and lack of response could prove life-threatening for the brand.
The twisted side of social media for brands is that the 3,000 painstakingly collected followers reach out to three lakh more people and within a matter of minutes, the brand which prided itself on the number of ‘Likes’ finds itself in a deep sea of ‘Dislikes’. By the time it can gather itself, and react, it is often too late and the damage has been done. Given this, social media is usually associated as a forum for consumers to vent and complain, but it does not end at this. This medium also has limitless potential to aid marketers, in more effectively targeting consumers if harnessed correctly.
Social Media – Not Just about Complaint Monitoring
“I personally believe that there are more advantages than disadvantages the medium has for the brand. Through this medium, the brand portrays that it is transparent in its offering and that it wants every consumer to have a good experience with its products. If at all there is an unhappy customer, the grouse is settled in front of the general public which in turn strengthens the brand and the confidence of the customer towards the brand,” shares Carlton D’Silva, Chief Creative Officer, Hungama Digital. This sentiment is echoed by Dinesh Swamy, Creative Director, Law and Kenneth, when he says, “Brands which respond in real time even with negative feedback have bounced back positively through a DIY (do it yourself) approach, avoiding conflict and maintaining dialogue open with absolute frankness. Leading examples are FedEx, Nestle and Virgin, which have a social presence ith a deep sense of personalization and positivity of addressing audiences with issues or concerns. The rule is to respond promptly, with a message that asks the complaining party to follow up via direct message or email, and try moving the issue offline, at a one-on-one level. Brands have come closer to consumers and there’s this incessant need to constantly understand the pulse of the audience.”
The social medium, if used effectively, is the perfect tool to understand the dynamics of consumer preferences. Brands that have been successful in utilizing this medium are the ones that have simply embraced this medium to get an insider view about consumers. The medium is fast turning into an active tool that actually partners with brands to help them adapt to the ever-changing consumer psyche and create a steady brand recall.
Does Social represent a larger mass?
“Social media is a report card for brands. It gives a democratic judgment. It praises brands or criticizes them, based on their performance. Today, a brand is judged first on social media platforms by consumers before they decide to opt for it. In a way, brands have to build that reputation by constantly delivering on quality. But it doesn’t mean that it’s disadvantageous. In fact, it facilitates transparency and brings the brand closer to the audience,” adds Swamy.
While these are great examples of social media usage, the question remains whether the medium is truly a representation of what the Indian consumer wants. “Social media does at one level give a general sense of what the consumer is feeling, it represents a smaller group of those consumers who are present on this medium, not all. This medium is not for only those brands who advertise, for example, you may not be advertising but you will still listen to social media,” feels Santosh Desai, Managing Director & CEO, Future Brands Ltd. Like Desai, other experts also believe that data on social media after a process of filtration can be turned into a goldmine.
“Social media is a listening tool for sure. Accurate or not is a point of debate. The key point to remember is that social media today is populated essentially by the Net-enabled. The Net-enabled are really the top end of the heap of consumers in the market. They represent the niche top of the pyramid of consumers. The real mass set of consumers lie buried deep under them. To that extent, when you listen to social media and all the noise within it, you listen to the stomach rumble of the top of the heap folk. Half the time, this is not representative of true fact of the entire audience for your brand and its consumption. You need to be careful to that extent when you plan on the basis of social media, listening to posts set up by you and your company,” says Harish Bijoor, brand expert & CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.
Social as a platform, and as a listening board
While brands need to befriend consumers, understand their tastes and preferences and communicate accordingly, the conversation from social can also direct decisions of traditional media. Social media enables a brand to hear real-time conversations on shows that viewers may be consuming in the privacy of their homes, but sharing the experience through the social platform. One of the strongest examples of this was seen in Satyamev Jayate.
From the start, SMJ was a success on social media, drawing unprecedented response. But the show did not receive high ratings. SMJ started trending on Twitter even before the first episode began. As per a global social media research firm, The WIT, SMJ was the most popular show on social media, not just in India but across the globe. SMJ stood out as the first successful TV show on digital platforms. Such was the degree of buzz created on social media, that industry experts were forced to question if TRPs were the only metrics to measure the success of the show.
SMJ’s success on social gave confidence to advertisers who had aligned with the show on TV. Brands are looking to move to a place, where the voice of social can help them course correct media plans of investment in traditional but that is not an easy route to follow. Brands are still struggling in just the initial stages of being seen and heard on social and of starting conversations on the medium. As social evolves, and brands grow with it, the capability to take lessons from social will also become sharper. And those who master that art will be able to benefit from social media as a tool.
Feedback: priyanka.mehra@exchange4media.com
