After 10 years of trying to sell the Internet Media in India, the one big stumbling block I have finally figured out is the ‘Mamaji Effect’
This is linked to the undying faith that the marketing folks (I regularly chase) have in Television Media, as their most preferred media choice.
It’s the Kanpur wala Mamaji (uncle) who calls up a couple of days after media breaks and says to my elusive brand owner ‘wow beta, I saw your company’s ad on TV… wah wah… very good stuff.. looks like you are doing well, keep it up’
That one call signals reach, recall and effectiveness to the brand owner! The ad has worked, the media has delivered – After all, the Mama’s and Mami’s are calling
And so unfortunately, Mr Mamaji hasn’t surfed Orkut or my Games2win or any of the other websites we do campaigns on and therefore not called my client up.
The point is that while there is no denying the scientific reach and effectiveness TV can achieve, the Internet in India has arrived and how!
We have 40+ million users. Sites like Orkut alone can singularly deliver 10 million + unique users per month. With rocket science technology like Behavioral Targeting and simple frequency capping, Internet media today can deliver such an effective bite to a marketing persons marketing objectives… if only we got a fair chance.
Our ads can be measured, tracked, creatively changed by performance, used to dynamically capture reactions and direct consumer data – so much more than what TV delivers, yet we remain a fraction of TV buys. I am not even bothering to compare costs of Internet campaigning vs. TV buys.
I am patiently waiting for the new generation 25 year old marketer who is now getting into the decision making groove in the big Fortune 500 brands. A couple of years later their buddies will call and say ‘ hey dude – saw your facebook app – amazing branding and interactivity – way to go’
My phones will never stop ringing from that day on.
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Fantastic post Alok!
For someone with your experience, this is a very naive post. Grow up!
I guess we are all battling our own set of ‘mamji’s'……whether real or virtual
But somewhere down the line the web has sold itself cheap in desperation and pictured itself as ONLY a lead generation vehicle, resulting in a culture where the average media sales person can only sell impressions, clicks and registrations period.
While this is great for the shaadi’s and the MMT’s of the world, this hasnt turned on the Unilevers and the P&G’s of the world …atleast not yet
But i guess the story of turning on the brand advertisers is a long story for another day ….
Been through a few of these battles myself ….and i would love to hear stories from other marketers themselves
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Interesting thought. Just can’t weight to see that happen. Hope my mamaji calls too!
great post.
i keep running into a similar kind of problem but for a different medium. i get told by the channel “but, our target audience is your kaamwaali bai”.
i look at them and think to myself (the client obviously cannot be argued with
– do you know how much she earns and what she consumes ?
one day – sooner rather than later – the advertiser is going to wake up and look at more targeted advertising on all media. until then – this will continue !!
great post.
i keep running into a similar kind of problem but for a different medium. i get told by the channel “but, our target audience is your kaamwaali bai”.
i look at them and think to myself (the client obviously cannot be argued with
– do you know how much she earns and what she consumes ?
one day – sooner rather than later – the advertiser is going to wake up and look at more targeted advertising on all media. until then – this will continue !!
long time – how are things with you – keep reading great stuff
This point crossed my mind as well, though it took a different angle..
Getting a TV ad spot is not an easy job, and it reinstates the size of the company like Mamaji said. For many business heads its a matter of prestige to be on TV and have their ads running on them. I think more than people never being on Websites is only part of the problem, somewhere while selling Internet as a medium we didn’t attach prestige to it and made it too easy perhaps as well. Compare it to startups wanting a TC coverage no matter which other blogs they get a mention these days for instance..perhaps web publishers should create their aspirational value also, besides a changing demography that you have mentioned of course.