As audio advertising gains momentum in the age of sonic branding, audio streaming apps, creative IVR options, digital radio stations, VOIP apps, et al, we analyse what’s in it for the brand
By Neeta Nair
The past couple of years are collectively called the era of the digital revolution in Indian advertising, with social media, long format videos, mobile ads, branded content zooming into focus. Brands which earlier were dependant on mainstream advertising to create an impact are now seen taking an informed step towards the emerging platforms in the digital arena. While video is being perceived as king on this medium, several concerns are being raised on their effectiveness, especially with data needed to stream or download these videos getting costlier on mobile phones. The question is – is video the ‘be all and end all’ of mobile advertising or is there a more attractive option?
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Audio advertising is at a fairly nascent stage in India with the benefits of ‘eyes free’ content primarily being utilized by radio stations alone, earlier. But today it has moved beyond that to audio streaming apps, creative IVR options, digital radio stations, VOIP apps, etc. Whether people are driving, working out at the gym, shopping at a store, relaxing at home or even working on a project, they are more likely to subconsciously consume an audio ad rather than video content.
WHY ONLY VIDEO
The intimacy of the users with their mobile phones is being tapped by brands to reach out to them. An average Indian spends about 2.2 hours on his mobile phone, according to a report by global research consultancy firm TNS. The figure is enough to tell a marketer where to direct a significant chunk of his marketing spends. But while most advertisers have jumped on to this bandwagon, they have restricted themselves to the use of videos to promote their brands. It is thus a natural consequence that 35% of Indians using smartphones are experiencing increased data billing due to automatic buffering of video advertisements while using their mobile phones according to a survey done by Nanu, a mobile VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) application. The users are left upset and annoyed and all this comes at the cost of the brands’ advertising budget for mobile. It therefore gives rise to the need for something non-intrusive and infused with the right set of analytics to ensure enough value propositions to both brands and users.
Saurabh Dhanorkar, Managing Director, Finolex Industries, a brand which extensively used audio advertising at the Kumbh Mela says, “The majority of the Indian target audience has slow Internet connections making videos extremely inconvenient, the solution being audio. The ideal situation would be for brands to promote an audio file via a toll free number on social platforms & banners to divert attention towards a number and build databases from there. Indian brands are still to overcome this realization and thus audios have been side-lined.”
AUDIO MARKETING
They say an image is worth a thousand words, but what if you are not paying attention to it? Limiting a brand to its visual dimensions is a waste of its potential, especially at a time when the attention span of the audience is decreasing. The great thing about sound is that you don’t need to listen to it actively in order to understand a brand message.
From HUL’s ‘Kan Khajura Tesan’ targeted at the rural areas where you just had to give a missed call from your phone to get free entertainment in return, to the ‘Donate Your Caller Tune’ campaign by WHO where a user can lend his caller tune to spread awareness on the country’s most serious health issues, and the Siemens campaign called ‘Sound of Work’ which (while a video) was made up of various industrial sounds as an ode to its workers on international worker’s day, brands are giving their own twist to the use of audio and not necessarily on the usual platforms.
Manish Nagar, National Cluster Head- Print & Radio, GroupM says, “In today’s mobile phone-driven environment, audio as a medium becomes more powerful as it surpasses the barrier of quality content being available only on smartphones, which video faces. Many feature phone users are spending equivalent time as compared to urban youth, consuming entertainment in form of audio more than video, as mobile is their only screen to the outside world. We can see audio growing in India at a much faster pace on the back of Internet and smart phones growth. Currently, time spent on mobile is highest in comparison to any other medium, and within mobile, time spent on music and entertainment ranks at no. 3.”
AUDIO STREAMING
Music apps users are increasing every day and the monthly unique users of top three music apps in India are more than 38 million per month. As we have already entered into the mobile-first era, it has become one of the most important parts of any marketing strategy within which music and entertainment play a very important role. Of late, it has become imperative for a brand to constantly devise novel strategies to spin their ads into a consumer’s interest zone. Like Maruti Suzuki, which decided to launch a brand-dedicated radio station on Saavn, a music streaming app which puts together a collection of songs which would interest the target audience of the car-maker, with subtle references to Maruti Suzuki in between.
Says Sanjeev Handa, VP, Marketing, Maruti Suzuki, “Simple advertising like commercials tend to get repetitive. Instead, we are curating music and getting native content to convey our message to our target audience. If you are a Saavn user, you would know that the message is not being drilled into your head. We are further looking at how we can weave that brand message into a story format. Interesting anecdotes shared with the people can leave a residue behind in their mind in terms of the brand thought.”
Audio-streaming platforms are very different from traditional radio, because it allows brands to reach out to a targeted audience. Nagar elaborates on that: “Advertising on music apps gives many options to planners - six to seven types of targeting possibilities, starting from time, location, device, operating system, audience profiling through listening behaviour, social logins and interactivity options. Due to this, audio-streaming platforms or radio apps have the advantage, as they not only are part of the regular mobile plans but also get included through the terrestrial radio plans route as well, purely due to the targeting possibilities and additional reach. Apart from apps, there are audio packs that are sold by operators as VAS content which enables marketers to spread out to rural areas where terrestrial or music apps both don’t help gain scale.”
Adding to that Milind Pathak, COO, Madhouse, South Asia, a firm which is working on digital audio solutions for brands like Pepsi and OLX, talks about the large consumer base the platform offers: “Mobile audio channels in India would have upwards of 100 million users by the end of 2016. Of course, it may not be a unique reach, because the same user who has downloaded Gaana may have Airtel Wynk too. But 100 million mobile radio targetable base is a sizeable consumer base which any brand would like to reach out to.”
From a brand perspective, on why these apps are effective platforms for advertising, Gaurav Mehta, CMO, OLX India says, “Music apps offer flexibility in creatives, interactivity, better measurability, and multiple targeting with respect to geography, time, and behaviour. These ads are non-skippable and non-dismissible. At the moment we advertise on Gaana and Saavn.”
RADIO REINVENTED
While digital radio is a platform which advertisers have recently woken up to, the traditional radio has been taking giant strides in the direction of advertising innovation. It has moved beyond straightforward contest and integration to more experiential solutions which are seamlessly integrated. Consumer behaviour has changed with digitization and the emergence of more and more non linear formats. People are no more listening to a platform, they are listening to content they want to consume, so it has become all about experiencing that content. And radio has the biggest advantage there, because unlike the other rigid mediums, radio which is live can move comfortably between content and commercial.
Abraham Thomas, CEO, Radio City says, “Consumers know the difference between content and commercial. They can tolerate commercials, provided it is given to them in a context. So we decided to move beyond the conventional integration and chose to create more brand experiences through our in-house creative agency, Audacity. When Colors launched Khatron ke Khiladi, we made our radio jockeys try out some of the stunts with Arjun Kapoor and through RJ Archana, our listeners could experience the format, which made a huge difference. So when you look at audio content as experiential, the approach changes completely. It is no more restricted to a mention on air. Also because of social media, it becomes a two-way process, where the same content is being played out on radio, social networking sites, and on ground, making it an integrated solution for the client.”
RJ Sucharita, who has been a radio jockey for eight years and currently hosts the show Mumbai Masala on Radio City, says, “Anytime I agree to talk about a brand on my show, I have to think of whether it is going to positively affect the listeners tuned in. For example, if my show is about women, and suddenly I have to do a brand placement about motor oil, I would talk about how petrol prices are going up, which means vegetables will become expensive as the transportation costs will go up. I would then bring into the picture the cargo trucks that bring them these vegetables which will perform better if you put that particular oil in it. So you have to connect the brand to the listeners and it involves a lot of research, and on most occasions, we don’t get rigid scripts for it.”
Today, brands have understood that one national campaign is hardly the solution for reaching out to people across different states and regions. They are opting for local solutions, and radio is a great medium for doing that. Thomas claims that today radio is not just an extension of the Television campaigns of brands. Very few brands are giving them jingles to air from their TVCs. He says, “Brands today need separate ideas for, say, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. The entire ecosystem has moved towards localized communication and radio is obviously benefiting from that. Five years ago, 25% of our business was from local companies, 75% from national players. Today, it’s 50-50. There is a lot of localization which breaks away from the conventional TV format of one brand and one communication strategy which is helping audio marketing specifically.”
But others in the industry feel there is a lot still left to be desired as far as audio is concerned. Ashish Chakravarty, NCD, Contract Advertising says, “Gaurav Gera made a character for himself on Instagram and Big FM bought over that property and ran the ‘shopkeeper’ series on their station. So, a property was created on some other platform and brought over to radio. I haven’t seen the reverse of that happen anywhere, except rare examples like Neelesh Misra’s show, Yaadon ka idiot Box and Naved’s Murga which are available on YouTube for listening. I haven’t seen an audio idea which would take the world by storm, neither is enough experimentation happening on using ‘audio only.’ ”
NEWER PLATFORMS
There are newer players in the market who have altogether shunned the use of video for advertising and used mobile phones for what they were really meant to do -- make calls. The Singapore-based VOIP app called Nanu, which has recently entered India, uses a credible business model for revenue generation. It has created technology which allows it to insert an audio advert over a ringtone. So if you make a call using the Nanu app, instead of the regular ringtone, you will hear an audio ad such as “This call is brought to you by McDonalds”. After that, the message would say click on the banner at the end of your call for a bag of free fries.
Martin Nygate, Founder and CEO, Nanu says, “More and more people are installing ad blockers on their phones because they hate all kinds of pop-ups, banner ads or videos. Why then would brands want to advertise on them? In Nanu’s case, the advertising is completely non-intrusive; because the ad stops playing the moment the receiver attends the call. Also, I become an active listener because I am waiting for someone to take my call as opposed to hearing some ad play in the background on TV. More so, the consumer gets something in return for being advertised to – a free phone call making him feel positive towards the advertiser, which makes us unique. You can make free calls from Nanu to any landline, mobile, anywhere in the world and unintentionally take home a brand message.”
Unlike other calling apps in the market today, the Nanu team claims it is not just an urban phenomenon. Nygate adds, “A huge percentage of our users are from rural and Tier II and III cities because a free calling app is more attractive to them and also because the app works seamlessly on 2G networks. Since our launch in October last year, we have around 1.5 million users in India and are growing at the rate of 15,000 users a day.” While brands like Oxigen, Lenskart, Big Bazaar, HTC are advertising on Nanu, even those who are looking at targeting the rural population can reap good benefits from the platform.
In addition, several apps today are going beyond music and creating exclusive content for its users, like Saavn. Vinodh Bhat, Co-founder, Saavn says, “We exclusively align one client with each Saavn original audio show and provide them 100% share of voice for the entire duration of the show. Vodafone came on board for the Saavn Originals show ‘Cyrus Says’. It's an integration where Vodafone pre-rolls air before the show starts, giving Vodafone 100% share of voice. Cyrus also talks about a specific Vodafone product/service in the pre-roll ad, and the careful mix of scripting and spontaneity makes it a strong bridge from advertising to content. Similarly for Mountain Dew, we created a playlist called "Mountain Dew Real Heroes". It has a number of real hero stories provided by Mountain Dew and recorded by artists such as Neelesh Misra only for Saavn listeners.”
Also, more and more radio stations are coming up with their own apps dedicated to specific shows like Love Guru and Mirchi Murga with Naved to capitalise on the ‘on-demand listening’ pattern. But one area for audio advertising which is still largely unexplored is podcasts. Navin Kansal, NCD, Indigo Consulting believes that’s because listening to content other than music, news or comedy is not an easy task. Elaborating on how the medium can be used to its maximum potential, he adds, “Creating spoken native ads in podcasts would be merely scratching the surface. Brands should look at deploying podcasts in creating branded content- it could be long tail content that is niche and varied as long as it’s useful and relevant to the demographic it is targeted at. There are more opportunities that can be leveraged. However, the starting point needs to be passion points – money matters, travel tips and other such life hacks. Podcasts by The Economist are a good example.”
SONIC BRANDING
All brands hope to create an identity which will stand out in the minds of consumers. For years, it has been about a specific logo or a mascot that would remind one of the brand and bring about an instant connect with its products, irrespective of where it is seen. But some brands have gone a step further, by trying to create an audio identity for themselves like the famous ‘tin tin tiding’ which in any form would immediately remind you of Britannia. But having said that, sonic branding or the art of creating an audio mnemonic for brands, is at a rather nascent stage in India, even as the big guys are steadily jumping on to the bandwagon, right from Standard Chartered Bank to Vistara, Tata Salt to CNN News18 and most recently HDFC Bank.
Rajeev Raja, founder of BrandMusiq, an advertising agency that creates sonic identities for brands, says, “When we started off three years ago, the meetings to business ratio was rather skewed for us and we had to get people interested in sonic branding by initiating the conversation. Now, we get calls from clients saying that we heard the sonic branding you did for HDFC Bank and we would be keen on doing something similar for our brand. Today, there is more acceptance for what we do.”
THE EMOTIONAL CONNECT
Music is about making you feel a specific way about a specific thing, by evoking memories. At a time when the world is going digital, things are getting very transactional as far as brands are concerned. Not only is the emotional connect with the audience getting lost in transit, but consumers are also getting more and more cynical about brands. In such times, music can be a very powerful asset of a brand because it can help create the right aura for it with sound. For example, an energetic and rebellious brand can have a mogo with a bit of hard rock and metallic guitars playing, while one for Johnson & Johnson baby care products can have something relaxing. But the trick is to use the audio identity across as many touch-points as possible and not just restrict it to one medium or two.
For example Vistara’s mogo can be heard on-board all its 10 A320 aircraft and at other ear-points such as Ringtones, Call Hold/IVR, etc. Talking about why the brand decided to experiment with sonic branding, Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer, Vistara says, “We think it is an incredibly efficient way to connect with the emotions of our customers and to soothe anxious travellers onboard our airline. Our mogo uses Western musical elements like piano, guitar and drums as the foundation to convey the spirit of a carefree world citizen while Indian musical elements such as sitar, bansuri, tabla are used to convey the emotion of the caring Indian soul.”
Another tune that we have been associating with a brand for 25 years now is the Titan Mozart. Sirish Chandrashekar, Marketing Head, Titan says, “The tune is embedded in most of our advertising. The tune is now so entrenched in the minds of consumers that even a hint of the tune reminds them of Titan. It is a brand asset. Today, many different brands are using audio creatively; especially on the new formats of audio streaming channels. It remains a very relevant element of the marketing mix.”
However, Raja adds that if a brand has a mogo or a sonic asset, it’s not enough to just keep playing it as a memory device. “It is important to constantly link it to larger social events that are meaningful in people’s lives, which reflects what the brand stands for. For example, Coke embedded their mogo into the World Cup football song ‘Waving Flag’,” he explains. The music video included the recognizable five-note melody used in Coca-Cola’s ads during its year-round global marketing campaign called ‘Open Happiness’ and featured the celebratory mood of the host continent. “Additionally the brand ensured that in all its other campaigns where happiness was shown socially or in a game, the Coke mogo was played. Over time, the human mind and body associated happiness with Coca-Cola. That is the power of music, it unlocks a much bigger emotional world,” Raja says.
@ FEEDBACK
neeta.nair@exchange4media.com
