Aaj Tak Connected TV emerges as a powerful digital advertising medium
Alok Agarwal is a marketing veteran who has built brands across India and abroad. An IIT Bombay & IIM Bangalore alumnus with two decades of experience, he has built brands across the globe, led new product development, evangelized digital marketing, and created shopper marketing solutions for retail outlets. His career has seen him in marketing roles at Unilever, GSK Consumer, and eBay India. At Orientbell Tiles, he is focused on making Tile Selection & Buying easy.
Q- Orient bell has always been a digital-first advertiser, what determines your strategy?
Our customer decides our strategy. And we will be there where the customer is, to engage with him in a way that’s relevant to him. Thanks to the accessibility of the mobile device, and the pandemic has only increased the dependence on them, consumers today spend much more time on their digital devices than on any other medium.
Q- Have you done any innovative campaign in the recent past?
We are always trying to engage with our customers with content that’s relevant to them. Throughout the pandemic, we have been leading conversations encouraging our audience to maintain physical distancing, stay indoors or wear masks. As the lockdowns ended and movement increased during Diwali, our campaign. “Karo Rishton Ko Renovate” encouraged our followers to reinvest in their relationships.
Very very recently as the year ended, our “Bye-Bye 2020” campaign reflected the sense of relief that the masses had of a really demanding year getting over and their hopes from 2021. Each campaign focused on the need of the hour and captured the feelings of the consumers around that time.
Q- What was your objective for trying out a new advertising medium?
The media landscape is evolving faster than ever before. So we are always experimenting to stay connected with our customers. Aaj Tak’s Connected TV is a natural fit with our TG and it was great collaborating with them to design an experiment that not only addressed our concerns (on investments) but also set up metrics for measuring performance to objectively judge the outcomes.
Q- How was your experience with Aaj Tak connected TV (Web, App, Smart TV, Youtube, etc), especially knowing that fact you were the first one to do so?
The ad worked well. And in the Aaj Tak connected eco-system, we say a 2.5 times increase in Brand awareness. Among those aware, the message recall also increased by 50% which is both a function of the creative as well as the medium.
Q- Do you think Aaj Tak connected TV is a very cost-effective medium for new-age digital Advertisers?
It was a very cost-effective medium for us. The cost per view was competitive.
Q- What kind of apprehensions did you initially have about Aaj Tak connected TV?
The concerns are similar across the medium. The main challenge for marketers is to engage the consumers attention for those few seconds of his/her life. While we all love ads, but we also getting distracted during Ad-breaks for all the normal distractions that exist.
Q- Do you think connected TV has more attentiveness as compared to traditional TV ads?
We did speak to a few consumers who had experienced it. They were all more leaning-in to the mobile screen and seemed more engaged to it than to the larger screen. Of course, this merits a much wider sample. But I guess that’s for the media houses. Looking at our results, we are certain that connected TV reached a large audience and had a good engagement.
Q- What kind of feedback did you get from your B2B partners or from the market on this Campaign? Do you think it helped with your brand recall or awareness?
Yes, there was a buzz about the film. In the Aaj Tak connected universe, we say a 2.5 times increase in brand awareness and a 50% increase in message recall amongst those aware.
Q- Did you achieve the desired reach?
Yes it exceeded our expectations. As a marketer, you always want more. The advertisement definitely resulted in improved brand metrics
Q- Would you like to continue your association with Aaj Tak connected TV?
It is an interesting medium. And we would definitely be open to evaluating it for appropriate campaigns.
Q- Would you like to refer this product to a new-age marketer?
Yes, we had a good experience with it, and the product has potential.