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Digital Marketing Events in India you don’t wanna miss, in 2021

Posted on by Nandita Raman
Reading Time: 6 minutes

Are you looking out for some really interesting, inspirational and power-packed events? Thanks to Covid 19, all of it has now moved online. Check out digital marketing webinars being done by Social Beat and DigiGrad.

Once larger physical events are allowed, you could possibly attend some of the biggest marketing and digital marketing events in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and other parts of India; that not just inspire but also give you an opportunity to network with the best marketers in the country. It’s an opportunity to listen to the finest in the advertising and marketing field – a forum that stimulates conversations and ideas around design, marketing, digital and more. You may also find it useful to read our book on digital marketing and view the Digital Bytes knowledge series on the Social Beat YouTube Channel or take up our digital marketing course at DigiGrad.

Here’s a quick glance into our compilation of top marketing events taking place across the country in 2021.

IAMAI India Digital Summit 2021

IAMAI is back with its signature event, IDS (India Digital Summit) on 19-20 Jan 2021. This year the central theme is ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ . The staggering increase in the total number of internet users in rural India recently presents us with the unique opportunity to establish India as a global powerhouse of Digital Growth. With over 150+ speakers its going to be a much anticipated event and award.

Abbys & Effies by Ad Club of Mumbai

Often termed as Oscars of Indian ad awards, Abbys by Ad Club of Mumbai honours creative excellence in advertising. With a grand conclave and awards in Goa, its an event all agencies and marketers look forward to. It also organises Effies, which honours all form of effective marketing communications across India. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to Covid19 but we all hope to be back in Goa to celebrate creative excellence, soon enough.

IDMA – Indian Digital Media Awards

Exchange4media organizes the Indian Digital Media Awards since 2010. It has always encouraged contributors in the 360-degree digital media space to keep getting better with the transformations taking place in the industry year on year. For this, it recognizes their talents, appreciates and celebrates them through these awards. It has showcased the work of many contemporary digital professionals and rewarded them for their beautifully executed digital blogs and viral campaigns. This event in itself is a huge networking opportunity for every business professional to connect and grow. Its 4th edition was held on the 4 and 5th of June, 2020. The 2021 dates are yet to be announced.

Marketing Conclave by IAMAI

This is a grand event in Mumbai organized by the IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India).  The event in its 16th edition, is an endeavour towards establishing a great comprehension of the modern methods and mechanics of marketing.

Key highlights:

Major Speakers were MDs & CEOs of leading companies such as Group M and Pepsico, top marketing managers of Times Internet, Starbucks, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, eBay and Renault amongst others. There were Panelists to take the conversations to another level.  The sessions were followed by networking breaks at regular intervals.

Topics of discussion revolved around Marketing in new age Digital India and around the globe that included:

  1. The new age brand’s marketing techniques that go beyond analysis in numbers
  2. Programmatic marketing
  3. Marketing on Mobiles
  4. Video Marketing as a part of Social Media Marketing
  5. Performance Marketing

Campaign India Digital Crest

Campaign India hosted its tenth edition of its awards on 4th June 2020 to honour excellence in digital advertising and marketing. Dates for 2021 are yet to be announced. Rechristened Campaign India Digital Crest Awards (CIDCA) in 2013, the property has evolved over the last nine years from its origins (as the Campaign India Digital Media Awards), to remain contemporary, relevant and inclusive of the dynamic changes in the digital ecosystem. It also features an award evening.

Foxglove Awards

Having conducted 6 editions, Foxglove continues to be a signature event in the year by afaqs. Every year it aims to to add more sub-categories to accommodate the refreshing work done in newer formats. Foxglove has become one of the most revered advertising shows in India thanks to over 500 unique entities who have participated over the years. A unique aspect about the award is that its only open for agency or organisations that are less than 12 years old. After all, creativity knows no age.

Social Beat Digital Leadership Summit

Social Beat, one of India’s fastest growing digital agency in India; conducts Digital Leadership Summit in Mumbai, Bengaluru & Chennai and online. This is a CXO event which brings together Business Leaders and CMOs to discuss how to drive business results through digital marketing and share innovation across Video, Vernacular Content, Voice, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality. The business leaders and attendees would be from across sectors, including FMCG, BFSI, Real Estate, Entertainment, Education and Internet Businesses. The 5th edition was conducted virtually in the form of Digital Premier League in Oct 2020.

Pitch CMO Summit

Exchange4Media group boasts of another event that it hosts, the Pitch CMO Summit. It is considered to be their flagship event which gathers some of the greatest marketing minds to discuss the latest, complex and challenging marketing trends in the global market scenario.  Every year, the event is theme-based. The theme for 2019 was “Reinventing Consumer Experience”.  At the Pitch CMO summit on 28th February 2020, leaders from the Industry explained how to concentrate on ‘the buy’, underlines the challenges, and highlight the opportunities.

Digies Digital Awards by afaqs

Digies, an initiative by afaqs!, aims to celebrate creative marketing communication initiatives by Agencies, Brands, Production Houses, Design Studios, Creative Studios, and Content Creators, from exceptional use of social media to integrating multiple platforms, from use of hashtags to a 120-seconder video, and more. There are 38 categories to participate in. Aspirants can submit their work in single or campaign categories. Additionally, there are 2 special awards, namely: Brand of the Year and Agency of the Year.

Streamcon Asia

Conceptualized by the online video analytics & marketing company – Vidooly, StreamCon Asia is a one-stop congregation for content creators, video platforms and advertisers from the online video industry in India. It is one of largest event of its kind in India with speakers and panelists from UC Web, Indigo Airlines, Eros Digital, Fab India, Oyo Rooms, Trent, Dailyhunt and more. It will also feature many content creators and YouTuber Influencers giving it a power packed event for anyone who is leveraging video content. The dates for 2021 are yet to be announced.

Indian Content Marketing Event and Award

A niche awards night started by exchange4media in 2016, is now an annual summit. The last one took place on 2020. In the world of marketing, content has definitely changed the way marketers present their brands to consumers. As more and more brands choose creative content for engaging with their consumers, the need to stand out increases every minute. Indian Content Marketing Awards aim to promote and recognise this talent, expertise and hard work that go behind cracking breakthrough ideas & concepts to create exceptional brand stories. The Content Marketing Summit is also going to have an Asia Summit, so watch out for that too.

Adobe Symposium India

Adobe Symposium is one of the biggest Digital Marketing events in india. This event invites thought leaders in the field of digital marketing to redefine your experiences with Adobe partners. As their marketing promos claim – ‘Take it to another level, soar new heights like never before and extend your digital experience with courses straight from the Adobe Digital Learning Services’. Apart from these, there are several other reasons to attend this conference, including networking goals. This is the most sought-after experience for most digital professionals in today’s utmost competitive era and has been rightly defined as the event “Where digital marketing meets extraordinary experiences.”  Every marketer looks forward to making the most valuable connections with their digital marketing pioneers and peers and if luck may have it, then with the digital marketing veterans and Adobe leaders too.

Ad:Tech Mumbai

ad:tech is the original industry authority for marketing and media technology, where marketing, technology and media communities assemble to share new ways of thinking, build strong partnerships, and define new strategies to compete in an ever-changing marketplace. The 10th edition of ad:tech in Mumbai took place on 27th and 28th October 2020 – the dates for 2021 are yet to be announced. The summit will enable participants to explore the future of marketing and discuss the ever-evolving and complex landscape, focussing on how technology, data and content are helping brands win through superior Customer Experiences, regardless of the touchpoint.

Design Beat Forum

Social Beat, a digital marketing firm is conducting an innovative forum called the ‘Design Beat’. It is a remarkable platform for creative minds to pool in their ingenious ideas and thoughts to come up with solutions that impact lives. Eventually, the solution nudges users and bring about a behavioural change. The design hackathon brings together like-minded problem-solvers to crack the problem with their wits and imagination. The event is scheduled for the 1st of November. Participants will receive exciting rewards for their resourceful contribution. Get ready to grab this wonderful opportunity to showcase your talent! 

Content Marketing Summit Asia

CMS Asia is a premier not-for-profit event organized by the thriving marketing community across JAPAC and ANZ. It is a must attend digital marketing event for every content marketer. This year the summit is being held in four different cities – Sydney, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and Mumbai. CMS Asia will features speakers and attendees coming together to explore and discuss the various facets of content marketing, emerging trends, best practices and innovative though leadership.

The South Asia leg of the summit will take place in Mumbai on April 15, 2020 tentatively.

VdoNxt

The 4th edition of VdoNxt Asia is India’s largest convention for those who live by the promise of digital video. It is the complete experience: listen and network at the conference; get in touch with the latest in technology at the exhibition, and celebrate the best work in digital video at the VdoNxt awards. The last edition was held on 29th January, 2020.

If you are based in Bengaluru, you may find it interesting to read our blog on Top marketing events in Bangalore.

Do feel free to comment below or reach out to us in case you feel any other event in India deserves to be a part of this list.

5 steps to creating a successful Market Research survey

Posted on by Mrinal Gaur
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Einstein once said ‘The important thing is not to stop questioning’ But does the count matter? Does every question lead us to the desired learning? The trick is not in asking questions but knowing how to ask the right questions. 

Holistic market research requires us to either own that skill or learn it. This is all the more pertinent now that businesses are becoming more and more consumer-centric. We can reach a consumer-oriented solution only by knowing what our consumers want, when they want, and how they want, and we need to ask them the right questions first.

 Let us first understand what market research is. A new opportunity in a business and its related domains should be analyzed first through market research as it gives us an idea of the viability and feasibility of the decisions to be taken. As precisely explained in one of our previous blogs, market research plays a vital role when we have to spot business opportunities, to understand our consumers in-depth, to understand our competitors and their approach, to grow in business, and to identify the right channels of marketing for our business.

A very powerful form of market research is primary research, which is best described as an entirely new form of data collected by asking questions to the existing and prospective consumers of our brand. There are multiple types of primary research implemented depending upon our objectives – Interviews, Focus groups, Surveys, and Observations. When it comes to collecting information from a large number of people systematically with a decision orientation, a survey is highly effective.

After a market research survey has been generated, rolled out and after our data points are in place, the next logical step is to analyze these points and derive actionable insights. This is a lengthy process through and through. In fact, the data collection process alone can take months, even years sometimes, hence, it is all the more important to start off on the right note. Mind it, Surveying could be cumbersome and non-conclusive if the number and type of questions are not appropriate.

Hence, we have put down steps involved in making a successful market research questionnaire to ask meaningful questions to our audience.

 

First and foremost, we define our Research Problem & Target Audience

A simple way to define our research problem and target audience is to answer the following questions first.

What is the goal of this research?

What problem are we trying to solve with this data? What sort of decision will this survey lead to? Where will it be implemented? 

How will it be useful to the consumers, brands and products? What information do I want from this market research questionnaire and why? 

What do I hope to understand about my target audience through this research? 

What market is this survey targeting? Which segment is the perfect fit and will help in the decision making process with reliable insights?

While answering these questions, we need to keep in mind the following – the size of our audience sample, the channel, and medium of our survey, and the detailed characteristics of our audience. Several data points with only a handful of them qualifying the characteristics is a waste of resources with no conclusive results.

We can use a few online tools to also build our consumers’ persona as explained in detail in one of our previous blogs.

 

Divide the information to be collected into Information Areas

After defining our research problem, we put down all the information that needs to be collected and group them in logical heads which are our key information areas. This list needs to be exhaustive, because a single missing piece can lead to an unsolved puzzle in the end and the process cannot be practically repeated. We also make sure that these key areas are not overlapping or contradicting each other.

Let us take an example to understand this better. 

For a market research survey conducted to design a marketing strategy for an existing FMCG product, the information areas could be Usage of product, Purchase behaviour , Profile, Perception, and Brand health.

 

Logically sequence your information areas

After the information areas are in place, we order them as per logic to ensure that the survey nurtures respondent friendliness. The flow of the market research questionnaire is kept such that the respondent does not get mentally fatigued in between, hence, it is also a good practice to keep the questions about the core purpose of the study right in the beginning. Some common criteria to decide this order are chronology, expected bias, and the level of critical thinking. 

 Some of the common structures that are followed include –

  1. Introduction of the respondent
  2. Screening questions
  3. Category behaviour
  4. Brand health and image
  5. Respondents’ Attitudes/beliefs
  6. Additional/ secondary data

 

Start asking questions now!  

Now, we can start forming questions within the Information areas. An effective way to create questions is to divide the information areas further into Variables and Indicators. 

For example, under ‘Category behaviour’ mentioned in the previous head, the variables are ‘Purchase behaviour’ and ‘Usage behaviour’. Furthermore, the indicators under ‘Usage behaviour’ are ‘frequency’, ‘purpose’, and ‘type’.

Within these heads and subheads, the questions belong to two categories – Open-ended and close-ended. When it is important to capture spontaneous answers or when we can’t put together an exhaustive list of responses as an aided list, we use open-ended questions such as ‘what do you particularly like about Product X?’ or ‘What are the reasons for not using Product X?’

On the other hand, Close-ended questions are easier and quicker to answer for a respondent as they have options to choose from. The respondents are given an aided list, which is an exhaustive list of all possible answers. Here, we make sure that the options are mutually exclusive and are not open to interpretation. 

We always go for short, simple, and clear questions. For example, rather than asking, 

‘Have you used the conditioner at least twice in the last two months?’, 

we should be asking ‘Have you used the conditioner two or more times in the last 1 month?’ 

Similarly, ambiguous questions are avoided because they don’t lead to a thoughtful answer.

 

Proofing, and Piloting

Now, when we have put down our questions in the market research questionnaire, it is imperative to check for errors and test it once. We examine questions against the initial information areas in terms of completeness and we run a need test (for knowing if there is any question that is not required). Finally, we run it informally to know if the flow works, to check if any contradictory answers are emerging, or if any questions are heavy on the respondents’ memory, and to assure the length of the survey is correct. 

Before rolling out the market research survey online or online, it is crucial to examine the survey as a whole once. Hence, we ensure to provide context to the respondents in the form of reasons. Also, we set the expectations for the participants concerning length, time taken to complete it and a progress bar within the survey is always a great option. 

While these are the steps involved in creating a market research survey, one wise thing to do not just while making it but also executing it is to follow logic and common sense. Remember, a true researcher should always remove his cloak of views and biases before starting to work on a survey because it is more important to know what others think.

Voila, our survey is ready to go!

Reach out to our research experts to know more about how you can create the right market research strategy for your business! 

 

 

Picking the Right Marketing Automation Tool – Ultimate Guide for Indian Marketers

Posted on by Vimal Michael
Reading Time: < 1 minute

As marketers, all of us often feel like we are spending a bulk of our time on tasks that are important, but take up too much of our time. This time could be better used for developing a overall marketing strategy for your brand or on furthering your knowledge within your chosen industry. Is there a solution to help you do this? Luckily, the answer is yes! Marketing automation is a gamechanger in the industry because it can free up your time from repetitive, monotonous tasks.

Wondering what is marketing automation? Well, in a nutshell, marketing automation is the process by which you automate certain marketing tasks, thus reducing the total time spent on these tasks. Since marketing automation uses machine learning and AI, it also offers more accurate results, free from human error. If you haven’t started using marketing automation in your

6 Best Case Practices For Creating Thumbstopper Videos

Posted on by Nandita Raman
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Why Thumbstopper?

The rapid rise of mobile devices as a medium of advertising has challenged all we know about how to capture attention and tell stories. 

Research has shown that the average attention span of a consumer is barely 8 seconds. To put it in context, one a second less than that of a goldfish.

According to Facebook, “Consumers take just quarter of a second to process an ad on mobile.”

Commensurate with this revelation, marketing professionals throughout the world are creating shorter, more attention grabbing content.

Recently, Malabar Gold and Social Beat came up with a campaign for International Men’s day to promote Malabar Gold’s ‘Men in Platinum collection’. Two thumbstopper videos were released which aimed to break the stereotype of the ‘macho culture’ and how all men should be appreciated for who they are. The video reached around 13 lakh people across Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. Malabar Gold’s Facebook page saw an increase in user engagement by 450%! This proves that thumbstopper videos, when done right, can change the way brands can connect with their target audience. 

 

Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and Facebook came out with what they described as the “first-of-its-kind initiative to redefine short-form mobile video creativity in the country”, called the thumbstopper.

What is a Thumbstopper? And how to make an effective Thumbstopper?

The thumbstopper is essentially a 10 second long, vertical, short-form video creative built around a strong emotional core to narrate a brand’s story. 

This fascinating new content format solves every marketer’s problem of addressing short attention spans in an era of growing mobile advertising.  Here are ways to nail thumbstoppers for your brands.

A successful thumbstopper video should meet the following 6 critical criteria:

  1. Video Duration
  2. Brand Placement
  3. Striking Visuals
  4. Sound effects 
  5. Grand Opening
  6. Surprise element 

1. Video Duration

“52% of the total brand lift driven by video comes from impressions that were short-view, or under views under two seconds.” – “Video Viewability and Sales Lift Research” by Facebook and Oracle, Sept 2017. 

As a thumb-rule thumbstoppers should not be longer than 10 seconds.It may be challenging to complete your story in such a short time. You can try and showcase a moment, a reaction or a visual representation of the product’s benefit.  For more complex stories, you can use more quick, multiple “chapters” that have a greater impact. 

2. Brand Placement

“Thumbstopper videos had a 2x lift in ad recall if branding occurs within the first three seconds” –  Stand Out in Feed: Optimizing Video Creative on Mobile” by Facebook IQ, Dec 2017 . It’s best to showcase your brand in the first 3 seconds of your thumbstopper. You can do this by showing a logo, well known spokespeople, striking colors, products or visuals. Also make sure that you communicate your brand promise in a simple & attention grabbing way to obtain the best results. You can do this by using cutaways to showcase multiple product colors or variants. 

Front-load your concept or script  – put your brand promise and key messages up front, in the most direct way possible. 

3. Striking Visuals 

MMA’s research shows that when an ad first appears on the screen (one tenth of a second), it is mostly seen as a blur but even this instant blur is enough to evoke an emotional response.

Make the most of the colors at your disposal: The usage of colour in advertising is often a very important strategy, since colours have a tremendous psychological impact on people. Our brain makes associations with certain colors that bridge the gap between your brand and your TG.

As a best practice, use of contrasting colors. This will make your creative stand out in a sea of monotony. 

And most importantly, embrace your brand colors. Use them repeatedly for your audience to associate your brand with those colors. 

4. Sound effects:

Facebook has created a system wherein you don’t have to turn up the volume to enjoy videos. This has got many brands and content creators thinking on how to embrace silence and find ways to grab viewers’ attention without sound: The thumstopper is no exception

  • Use knots and screenplays that do not involve dialogue and which are instead highly visually appealing.
  • Make good typography your best buddy. Text and graphics make your message easier to understand in a muted environment.
  • Make sure you always caption your thumbstopper video in case it contains dialogues. 
  • Make sure that the background score is soothing, feel-good and charms the viewer, just in case they decide to turn up the volume. 

5. Grand Opening 

MMA’s cognition study shows that people responded strongly to human faces, body parts or even icons that are shaped like bodies.

To get the maximum output, include a human element that is high on emotion. The hero should be at the center of the story. With all of us swiping quickly through our newsfeeds, your brand must make a real impact in just under 10 seconds. Hence, bring your most exciting frame upfront.

Capture attention with branding or text, quickly. An interesting way to open would be to use the hero element of your brand right in the beginning. You can also use vernacular videos as thumbstoppers with a grand opening as part of your video marketing strategy! 

Try using text captions to emphasize core messages at the outset. You can also add an interesting copy at the end of the thumbstopper so that the message is etched in your viewers’ memories. 

6. Surprise element:

Top-performing mobile ads always have a surprise element. Introducing surprise design elements may seem counter-intuitive, but it can transform the ad completely! 

Use the different creation tools that are already available on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Can the thumbstopper be a Boomerang or Hyperlapse? Have you used an IG sticker or Poll in your ad? The possibilities are endless! 

You can write a creative scene. Is it possible to use time as a creative device? Will a fresh copy approach work? 

There are several ways through which you can innovatively approach Thumstopper videos. In the end it’s all about creating a huge, positive impact for your brand.  The idea is to create memorable moments and create a lasting impression on your customer’s mind.

Through the Malabar Gold Campaign, Social Beat successfully managed to do this. Not only did the thumbstopper campaign create a visual impact, but also a social impact which aimed to change the way people currently perceive certain practices in society. Social Beat, one of India’s leading digital marketing agencies is helping several brands across the country leverage their video marketing efforts through innovative, path-breaking and high impact methods such as creating unique thumbstoppers. 

If you want your brand to reach out to millions of people, try the thumbstopper approach. You will not be disappointed!  

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