In conversation with Suveer Bajaj, Man’s Life

Suveer Bajaj is the co-founder of Zoo Media and FoxyMoron. In his current role, he looks into account planning, new business initiatives, strategic alliances, media planning & buying, and the overall corporate functions and corporate development of the organization. Zoo Media recently launched Man’s Life, a digital men’s lifestyle publication.

Agency Reporter- Congratulations on the launch of Man’s Life. Could you take us through the journey of what motivated you to come up with this new-age platform?

Suveer Bajaj-

Expertise in building online communities: For the last 10-12 years, FoxyMoron has been at the forefront of building women-centric brands. In 2010, we won the mandate for L’Oreal. It was our responsibility to build the brand on digital platforms from absolute scratch. In order to target women at large, our biggest task was to develop online communities for them. Thus, we engaged with 30 Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) back in 2012 to be a part of our self-curated microsite ‘www.welovemakeup.in’. The idea was to create a community wherein women could pose questions on fashion, grooming, and make-up and our KOLs would answer them. Thereby, we successfully created one of the first digital communities for women in India. 

Zoo Media has a successful history of being able to build engaging online communities. Thanks to our category expertise, it almost became a rite-of-passage for women-oriented brands to segway through FoxyMoron. So whether it was brands like (Faces Canada), or e-commerce platforms (Nykaa), or even content publishing avenues (Femina, Filmfare), it was imminent that they pass through the Zoo Media ecosystem. 

Incidentally, we have witnessed great results in working with publishers due to Noesis.Tech (our tech products and services agency). Our customer acquisition projects for publishers have yielded great results. Lastly, we also have an exceptionally talented content team that drives the narrative for several large publishing brands. Thus, we have accumulated critical experiences having worked with publishers like Mid Day, Femina, BBC, Good Homes, Miss Malini, Filmfare, Film Companion etc. in the digital publishing industry. 

Identifying the ‘gap’: The digital publishing ecosystem is very fragmented. There is no one-stop destination for all things ‘Men’. Sure, there are a few established publishers who cater to various segments of audiences. But there is no generalist destination that is completely dedicated to men. Even media planners draw a blank! They might suggest advertising on search engines or social media platforms or even OTT platforms. But none of these aforementioned avenues cater to men alone.

We decided to amalgamate the above insights with our experience in building online communities. So far, we have played the role of solution providers to our clients. It was time Zoo Media leveraged this opportunity and created its own brand. With this idea, we launched Man’s Life. 

With Man’s Life, we have pivoted ourselves into a media-tech company. The digital publication aims to be India’s premier lifestyle destination. Now, we get to put our skills and experience to our own and create a platform unique to us. It will also open floodgates for new monetization opportunities.

AR- In today’s time, new-age media publications are as dynamic as they can get. What gaps did you identify in the revenue and business models of similar platforms in India?

Let’s take a moment to understand how new-age media functions. Broadly speaking, anyone who is publishing and creating content on the digital medium is called a “creator”. While influencers use earned platforms to push their content, publishers focus on their native/owned platforms. As Man’s Life, when the content on my platform is extended to social media, it automatically becomes a part of the marketing campaign. But for an influencer (who is anyway using social media to publish the content), he is not marketing to someone else. The content rests on his page alone. 

Essentially all content, whether focused on entertainment, edutainment, infotainment etc., rests on these owned platforms. Netflix and Spotify are examples of this where consumers can consume 100% of the platform’s content. So if new-age media is able to harness the combined potential of native and earned platforms, they have the means to crack the formula to reach out to users wherever they are and subsequently recruit them into the purchase funnel. The idea is to reach the relevant audience with the right channels and content, in a manner that is most convenient to him.

AR- Since the ‘content community commerce’ model forms the foundation of Man’s Life, could you help our readers understand what this model constitutes and what made you choose this route?

Man’s Life’s biggest point of distinction is our content-community-commerce model. It will allow advertisers to change their objective and the communication narrative from ROAS (Return On Advertising Spends) to ROI (Return On Investment). Let’s understand the model first. 

Each marketing tool has a different role to play in the consumer journey. As a consumer navigates through the purchase funnel, he will undergo Awareness, Consideration, Trial, and Re-engagement. Depending on the objective of the campaign, advertisers decide on the metric to be measured. So if a brand wants to run a campaign with the objective of awareness, the metric is to reach out to as many people as possible from the targeted audience. Great content helps deliver these messages. Once the awareness goal has been met, the brand possibly wants to create engagement or build advocacy and trust with the help of influencers. These influencers build communities. People connect with the values and ethos of these influencers. Eventually, the brand will desire that these efforts lead to trials. 

One of the biggest advantages of the digital medium is the ability to track and measure these trials with the assistance of established affiliate programs with leading ecommerce platforms. It is therefore possible to attribute these efforts to our martech activities. This is difficult in the offline world. Thus, we are able to change the advertisers narrative from ROAS (Return on Advertising Spends) to ROI (Return on Investments). 

We have often measured content deliverables with likes, shares, comments, views, impressions, etc. But now, with all social media platforms also offering monetizable opportunities, it is time these metrics change. Man’s Life’s model allows the brand to monetize the sum invested in creating a particular campaign by plugging in commerce opportunities and adding the measurement metric of Sales.

AR- What services does Man’s Life offer to brands that set it apart from other platforms?

Another point of distinction that sets Man’s Life apart is our video-first approach and our connection with influencers. We already have partnered with a few influencers and creators who have associated themselves with the magazine and are creating content with us. Essentially, we are tapping into these existing up-coming communities (with a male-skweed audience) who will eventually transform into our brand as well as advertise on their channels. We are also in the process of building video IPs that will rest on platforms like YouTube as well as SVOD platforms. 

Besides these, Man’s Life will be offering services like Advertiser Funded Programmes, Advertorials, White Label Content, Affiliate Marketing, Native Advertising Opportunities and Influencer Marketing. 

AR- The platform currently focuses upon 4 categories- Sports, Lifestyle, Entertainment, and Auto. Is there a specific reason behind sticking to these or do you plan on expanding the content verticals soon?

In our second phase will introduce the e-commerce aspect of the business model and the introduction of regional content. We plan to add three more content verticals, esports, gaming and fantasy; finance; and sex and relationships.

AR- We are witnessing a massive increase in the number of male influencers and content creators in the otherwise female-dominated space. How do you plan to leverage that?

At the core of Man’s Life is its community. Our intention is to create a platform that would be a one-stop destination for all things ‘men’. We already have partnered with a few influencers and creators who have associated themselves with the magazine. In addition to aiding them with content creation, we are hoping to establish long term collaboration opportunities with them. The idea is to tap into existing and growing communities who will eventually transform into our brand as well as advertise on their channels. Advertisers will have the dual benefit of editorial content as well as engagement. 

We are working with multiple influencers, especially 

A) Influencers whose are open to exclusive promotions/collaborations and have a significantly higher male-skewed audience 

B) Up-and-coming influencers whom we can aid and support in terms of content creation and editorial capabilities; 

C) Lastly, as the name and our existing content pegs suggest, we work with influencers under the entertainment, lifestyle, sports and auto domains 

AR- What are your future plans with Man’s Life in order to ensure an improved experience for brands and consumers alike?

We are looking at a future wherein all content opportunities will become shoppable. The Man’s Life community and model will help advertisers and marketers design a new narrative that is absolute in all the stages of the purchase funnel. It will make content marketing a much more accountable and measurable medium, as opposed to just a creative one. 

Since our launch in May 2021, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Brands are proactively reaching out to us for collaborations and are interested in exploring this avenue. Our subscriber base has grown significantly and so has the time spent on our website. By 2025, India is expected to be a 4 trillion dollar economy, and if one were to assert that 30-35% of the spending will be influenced by digital, therein lies our biggest opportunity!