54% of businesses have been impacted by covid in India, of which retail, travel and tourism have been hardest hit: Report

• MMA and GroupM's report highlights the growing importance of accountability in marketing and why it is more critical at times like this.
• As per the report, 34% of business respondents have increased digital media budgets while 23% have focused more on eCommerce selling.

MMA in association with GroupM released its latest report ‘Modern Marketer Reckoner’ –a detailed and conceptualized report keeping in mind the business and ecosystem situation in 2020.

With the various shifts that have happened in 2020 as well as mobile always being an important part of our daily lives, this year’s report focuses on two major perspectives – the consumer lens and the marketer lens. The consumer lens focuses on the theme “Nothing Is Certain” and it captures the uncertainty and the changes which happened in 2020 at various levels from a consumer’s point of view. The first half of the report talks from a consumer sentiment perspective and the impact it has had at a socio-cultural level. It also highlights the media consumption perspective, with a special focus on digital and mobile app ecosystem. This looks at the growth in the mobile and digital ecosystem in the last few months and how it has leapfrogged. And lastly, it highlights the shopping perspective, focusing on how the shopping basket has changed for consumers, the shift towards essentials and the huge increase in eCommerce as a mode of shopping.

While the second half of the report focuses on providing a modern marketing reckoner to marketers on the key strategic tentpoles they should look at, so to navigate the ambiguity and the uncertain business and economic landscape and is themed “Everything is Possible”. It highlights the strategic pillars of modern marketing which marketers should deploy to not only deal with the current uncertainty but is a reckoner, even beyond. This part focuses on how the way consumer content has been changing and therefore how the content ecosystem is seeing the emergence of new formats and trends. Thus, it showcases and discusses how brand communication has moved from creativity to proliferation and thereby what should brands do to retool their strategies. It also highlights the growing importance of accountability in marketing and why it is more critical at times like this. While the first section is more a data and reports led piece, the second section is more centred around best practices, guidelines, expert point of views.

Speaking on the report, Prasanth Kumar, CEO, GroupM South Asia said, “The advertising and marketing industry has been encountering some fast changes in the past few years with the advancement in innovation and technology. In this current wave of uncertainty and ambiguity, it becomes even more critical for marketers to measure ROI and therefore, invest in data and technology to do the same. The pandemic has triggered a definite shift in the consumer and the business landscape but if we display rigour and foresight and use effective advertising and modern marketing models, we can help businesses stay on top. This year with the report we wanted to decipher the changing face of content and influencers, new communication formats and channels, and the ways to build powerful brands.”

“The reckoner underlines the marketing industry’s certainty when it comes to the rapidly expanding mobile channel,” said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director at MMA Asia Pacific. “The industry, on the whole, recognises that the modern era of the market is upon us and we need to embrace it. this new age of marketing is going to be built on tools and technology that this report helps to outline along with great examples through the lens of various industry leaders who are the torch bears of this change… helping @shapethefuture for marketers and agencies in India and abroad.”

Tushar Vyas, President, GroupM South Asia commented, “One of the biggest areas of impact that has emerged is the digital ecosystem. It plays a huge part in the way the business landscape of today has unfolded. We believe that modern marketers will have an advantage if they can apply deep insights to understand the changing landscape. In this period of uncertainty, we need to be more outcome-driven and mobile aligned to usher hope and dynamism into the life of the consumer again. With this report, we wanted to address the huge changes in the industry and talk about the new ways to embed data into every part of the business and decode them to get powerful insights which in turn can help brands communicate better.”

Rajesh Ramakrishnan, Managing Director, Perfetti Van Melle India commented “We have seen unprecedented changes in 2020 and this has an impact on consumer and shopper behaviour as well as on our media consumption habits. Yet, even as many things change, some things remain constant- for brands to stick to their fundamentals- develop relevant differentiated products, build iconic brands, expand reach, and create engaging communication. This report, as always is basis extensive research and nicely encapsulates the changing landscape and the key considerations that Marketers need to keep in mind as they navigate through 2021 and beyond”.

Sandeep Bhushan, Director & Head of GMS India, Facebook commented, “We are experiencing unprecedented shifts in consumer attitudes and behaviours due to the pandemic. A significant digital acceleration has happened on the back of social media, and with over 400 million Indians connected on the Facebook family of apps in India, mobile is now central to media consumption and business impact. To build on the opportunity, businesses need to adopt the immersive tools on the platform, pivot the media-mix and measure true incremental business outcomes. Our playbooks for the new normal in partnership with GroupM and Ogilvy are now available for all marketers to accelerate growth.”

Moneka Khurana, Country Head, MMA India said, “This report is an extremely holistic and robust report and has been written basis intensive research across multiple industry studies and reports, a lot of primary research which has been conducted in the past few months both by MMA and GroupM, POVs and contributions from multiple industry experts across multiple areas and verticals, POVs and contributions from GroupM leadership, GroupM subject matter experts and MMA board members.”

Key highlights from the report:

· 54% of businesses have been impacted by covid in India, of which retail, travel and tourism have been hardest hit.
· 34% of business respondents have increased digital media budgets while 23% have focused more on eCommerce selling.
· Almost 90% of people agree that they are more careful about how they are spending their money.
· 50% of people have delayed big purchases and almost 38% have cut down on day-to-day expenses.
· Hardest hit are the discretionary categories – 77% have reduced eating at restaurants. 55% have reduced buying clothing and fashion accessories and 48% have reduced spending on consumer electronics. What has seen a positive impact are the areas related to health and hygiene – 29% are exercising more at home, 24% are consuming more vitamins and supplements, 23% are spending more on groceries.
· Among the digital-first timers - 45% streamed movies, 43% got WFH software, 33% used an e-learning app, 28% purchased grocery online and 22% consulted a doctor online.