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<ul><li>Zirca launches a suite of smarter unified solutions <keyword id="11678272" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="zirca-iq">Zirca iQ</keyword>. </li><li>It includes three proprietary solutions: ConsumeriQ, CreativeiQ, ContentiQ. </li></ul>Zirca iQ, leading the brightest brands to smarter solutions, is a holistic suite of solutions that customise consumer conversations through insightful data-driven advertising and content. It has unified its media expertise, unique research in consumer psycho-analytics and immersive creativity to deliver campaigns for brands with standout results. This significant step in the realignment of our offer reflects our position as a knowledge-driven powerhouse staying ahead of the curve in a rapidly changing digital marketing industry. Zirca iQ proprietary solutions: ·ConsumeriQ: An archetype indicator tool that helps brands targets mindsets, not numbers, with a content strategy that connects with them ·CreativeiQ: A data-driven creative process that helps brands create eye-catching content that speaks to the consumer and scales across platforms ·ContentiQ: A propriety content management tool that evolves your campaign, amplifies reach and ROI through the best digital media mix. Supporting this launch Zirca has undertaken over the past 12 months an important organisational restructuring to realign its business goals and redefined its products and goals that supports Zirca iQ. Building partnerships with international entities like Fandom, and Singapore-based blockchain solutions provider Aqilliz give greater depth to our offer. Our knowledge hub is further enhanced with the launch of three trend reports that highlight how consumer archetypes evolve with time, how brands can restart trends during the pandemic, and Food and Beverage trends in the new normal as part of their “Ungeek” series, during the Pandemic. Showcasing Zirca iQ we are excited to announce the launch of a new website that demonstrates how Zirca has transcended beyond a regular digital agency into an insight-driven, creatively supercharged, consumer-focussed knowledge hub supported by a world-class, in-house tech team. <keyword id="3123098" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Neena-Dasgupta">Neena Dasgupta</keyword>, CEO and Director, <keyword id="3123096" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ZIRCA-Digital-Solutions">Zirca Digital Solutions</keyword>, said: “Staying still is something that is not in our DNA. While nobody likes the ongoing pandemic, we tried our best to utilize this time to make a better version of us. Our new website is an effort that showcases who we truly are and what we are capable of doing. Zirca has evolved multi-fold from what we started as, and now is the opportune moment to display our true potential. Be it our proprietary tool Archetype indicator, our blockchain integrated products, or any other product and service in the Zirca arsenal, all are poised and ready to handle the next wave of digital. <keyword id="215932" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Karan-Gupta">Karan Gupta</keyword>, Managing Director, Zirca Digital Solutions, said: “Over the years, Zirca has diversified its offering even during this hard time when the world was slowing down. Zirca undertook some internal changes to realign its business goals signifying the diversification of its business. Our aim is to always stay ahead and give the best to our partners and marketers with our solutions.”

Zirca launches 360-degree digital solutions provider that customises consumer conversations through insightful data-driven advertising and content

<ul><li><keyword id="3123096" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ZIRCA-Digital-Solutions">Zirca Digital Solutions</keyword>’ whitepaper highlights the uptick in home cooking, consumption of more cooking-related content and many more.</li><li>According to the report, traffic on e-grocery platforms increased to 15 million post covid as compared to 10 million pre-covid.</li></ul>Zirca Digital Solutions, a 360-degree digital solutions provider for brands has launched a white paper on the “Food and Beverage trends” as part of their “Ungeek” series. Ungeek is a series of colourful, simplified, easy-to-absorb, insight-driven research reports and thought-pieces that are invaluable to the modern marketer. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about profound changes to consumer behaviour which are here to stay. It has impacted the way consumers think. Audiences are now defining their likes, thoughts and preferences and seeking newer avenues to meet their needs. During the onset of the pandemic, consumers had to adapt quickly to find new ways to fend for themselves and discover alternative options to perform even mundane tasks. These changes affected not just individuals and homes, but large corporations and industries. Like most sectors, the food &amp; beverages sector has also been significantly impacted by the pandemic. Zirca Digital Solutions’ whitepaper, “Food and Beverage Trends in the New Normal” examines behavioural changes that have been prevalent during the lockdown. The white paper focuses on key changes such as New Kitchen Development, Health is Wealth, Safety and Convenience, and lastly the new age influencers. Some highlights from the white paper: New Kitchen Trends: From restaurants shutting down to the rise of home-cooking, the pandemic has altered the way we consume food within our homes. • Culinary skills were seen as a hobby, compulsion, way to ensure safety and method to de-stress, this behavioural change has led to more audience turning into cooking-based portals. The traffic noticed on these portals increased from 25 to 27 Mn during the lockdown as compared to 14 to 17 Mn pre covid. • Food and Lifestyle genre channels on television saw an impressions surge to 245.5 Mn during the lockdown as compared to 160 Mn pre covid. The average time spent on these channels increased to 15.08 mins in Q1-2021 from 10.03 mins in Q1-2019. • A new trend “Do it Yourself” that emerged during the lockdown. One such trend that captivated the nation was “baking bread”. According to SEMRUSH, there was an increase of 515% in search volumes of how to bake bread, and 616% increase of how to bake bread at home. • Pandemic also acted as a catalyst in shaping new personas. 4 personas that were identified were - people who cooks food to monetize, cooks food to unwind, cooks for better nutrition, and cooks passively, by default. Safety and Convenience: Digital paved a new path into the new normal as consumers flocked online to shop for daily groceries. • According to BCG report, e-commerce saw a rise of 1.3 - 1.5x no of buyers for essential food (fresh food, staples, packaged food and beverages), 1.4x increase in the no of categories shopped online, and 45% increase in online spends. •Traffic on e-grocery platforms increased to 15 Mn post covid as compared to 10 Mn pre covid. •Unexpected alliances and new business models were formed as companies adapted to help deliver essentials to the consumers - - Zomato and Swiggy delivered essential goods - Flipkart tied up with cab services like Uber and Meru to deliver essentials - Dominos and ITC joined hands to deliver essential goods •As audiences experienced better services from various e-comm portals, they soon realized the resultant benefit of ordering grocery online was convenient. Health is Wealth: The fear of catching Covid-19 led to people adopting healthy food diets, and fitness regimes to improve their immunity. Post Q2, 2020 this category has been in a constant upswing. • Daily visitors on diet, exercise and fitness portals increased from 37 Mn in Jan 2020 to 41 Mn in Feb 2021. Total time spent on these portals also increased from 3393 Mn Mins in Jan 2020 to 4064 Mn Mins in Jan 2021 New Age Influencers: The rise of influencers and cloud kitchens are shaping the way commoners consume content. The need for guidance was picked up by influencers (Bloggers, YouTubers, Podcasters, Instagramers, etc) and cloud kitchens, each trying to get the attention of the masses. <keyword id="3123098" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Neena-Dasgupta">Neena Dasgupta</keyword>, CEO and Director, Zirca Digital Solutions, said, "Our Ungeek initiative has seen massive traction within the trade and marketing fraternity. Everybody just loved the way complicated statistics were explained and presented. During pandemic, food and its ancillary activities got a whole new meaning. It became passion, profession hobby, past time and even problem for some and which is why our second white paper is focused on <keyword id="119074" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="food-and-beverage">food and beverage</keyword> trends. At Zirca, we have always believed in knowledge-based approach with consumers at the epicentre of all that we do. We feel it is our duty to share knowledge with all brands and partners and help them take smart and informed decisions for their businesses. With Ungeek, we hope to being a part of our partner’s journey by facilitating meaningful conversations."

Food and Lifestyle television saw an impressions surge to 245.5 million during the lockdown as compared to 160 million pre-covid: Report

<ul><li>In wake of players, support staff and team management executives tested positive for Covid-19, BCCI announced the suspension of <keyword id="7866747" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ipl-2021">IPL 2021</keyword>. </li><li>Considering how big the league has become over the years, every year there is a lot of money riding on IPL.</li><li>We spoke to experts to understand the kind of impact the suspension of the league will have on different stakeholders.</li></ul> The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has suspended the current season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in wake of players in different teams testing positive for Covid. While there had been talks of moving the tournament to a different city in the past few days, the new positive cases among the players led to BCCI announcing an indefinite suspension of the league. For a while now, IPL had been the topic of a raging debate - Whether there was a need to hold the tournament this year, at this time, when the country is facing a massive surge in Covid numbers. While there were many who had felt that IPL should not have been held this year, or could have been suspended much earlier than it was, there were others who said something like an IPL was important because it acted as a distraction from the grimness that otherwise surrounds us. In its official statement, IPL stated, “The BCCI does not want to compromise on the safety of the players, support staff and the other participants involved in organising the IPL. This decision was taken keeping the safety, health and wellbeing of all the stakeholders in mind. These are difficult times, especially in India and while we have tried to bring in some positivity and cheer, however, it is imperative that the tournament is now suspended and everyone goes back to their families and loved ones in these trying times. The BCCI will do everything in its powers to arrange for the secure and safe passage of all the participants in IPL 2021.” In its official statement, <keyword id="17943" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="star-india">Star India</keyword> said, “Star India supports BCCI’s decision to postpone IPL 2021. The health and safety of players, staff and everyone involved in the IPL are of paramount importance. We thank the BCCI, IPL Governing Council, players, franchisees and sponsors for their support. We are also indebted to our employees, on-air talent, production, and broadcast crews for trying their best to spread positivity by delivering the broadcast of IPL 2021 to millions of homes in the face of challenging circumstances.” However, the next big question everyone is pondering over is, how will IPL’s suspension impact different stakeholders considering there are massive investments involved in the league every year. This year, Star India had on-boarded 18 sponsors and over 100 advertisers across multiple brand categories including Edtech, Fantasy Sports, Beverages, Pay Wallets, Home Décor, Auto, Telecom, Consumer Durables, FMCG and Financial Services. For most brands, the IPL becomes that one property that garners impressive eyeballs. The leagues has helped a lot of brands build awareness and reach out to an engaged set of audience over the years. However, this year, perhaps due to the ongoing <keyword id="9323110" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Covid-surge">Covid surge</keyword>, IPL’s viewership witnessed a dip when compared to last year’s numbers, according to data from Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India. <div type="image" title="IPL 2021 viewership" msid="82390462" hostid="261"></div> Last year, BCCI had earned Rs 4,000 crore in revenue from hosting IPL, in addition to a 25% rise in TV viewership, according to BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal. The different franchisees make money through title sponsorships, media rights, merchandising, ticket sales and the prize money. When it comes to the broadcaster, Star Sports and Hotstar was expected to rake in advertising revenues of around Rs 3,600-3,800 crore, a substantial jump from last year’s estimated revenue of Rs 2,600 crore. While it might still be very early to understand the implications of the suspension, industry experts believe advertisers will approach Star Sports Network to rework the advertising deals. Many advertisers had to pay close to a 20% premium for ad slots this year and it is expected they would demand for extra airtime, to make up. What the exact implications are, and how different stakeholders work around the suspension, only time will tell. To understand what the industry felt about the league’s suspension, we reached out to experts from the industry, and here is what they had to say: <keyword id="248051" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ashish-Bhasin">Ashish Bhasin</keyword>, CEO APAC and Chairman India, dentsu supported the decision to postpone the IPL for now. “Given the prevailing pandemic situation, I think it is the right decision to postpone IPL for now. The health and safety of all the players and everyone involved I think is paramount and keeping in mind the situation in the country and the prevailing mood in the nation, in my view it is the right decision. IPL is the single largest property on television in India and something that appeals to a wide target audience, across the geographies. It has unparalleled reach and has always proven to be an excellent vehicle for brands and I think that will continue to be so and that will not change. Given the fact that several parts of the country are going into lockdown, there are emergency measures been taken in different cities and towns to curb the pandemic, the severe shortages and difficulties being experienced, lives being lost to the pandemic, I think it is more appropriate to focus on that then on commercial issues for now. I’m sure the commercial issues will get discussed and resolved in an appropriate manner.” While she said that the suspension will amount to substantial business impact for a lot of the stakeholders, <keyword id="3123098" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Neena-Dasgupta">Neena Dasgupta</keyword>, CEO and Director, Zirca Digital Solutions also stated that she would not be in favor of it resuming at a later date. “There is definitely going to be a substantial business impact on all associated with the annual spectacle. It's not just Star and BCCI that would be losing revenue but other people as well whose revenue is linked to IPL. Media agencies, digital agencies who were riding big on IPL would now have to look for ways to compensate for the lost revenue opportunity. While it is being said that the tournament would resume during better times, no one should place their bets on it. As a business I would not be in favour of the decision, but looking at the current scenario, saving human lives is top most priority. I would like to say to all my fellow colleagues across the industry, “Hang on and stay safe, this too shall pass,” she said. Pointing at how the first-time advertisers would perhaps be the least daunted by the development, <keyword id="1505615" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ashish-Khazanchi">Ashish Khazanchi</keyword>, Managing Partner, Enormous Brands said, “Suspension of IPL will certainly have near-term adverse impact - both in terms of business objectives of advertisers and even more importantly on the market sentiment. Heavy investments may be held back because there's going to be unpredictability on how the returns on investments may turn out to be. The first-time advertisers however are probably going to be the least daunted going by my extensive work with them. For a few important reasons. One, their businesses are heavily digital-enabled. That part of the world will roughly continue unfazed and may actually gain shares at the expense of the traditional business models. Two, they have a much higher risk appetite than traditional business. The older businesses are usually in a consolidate mode, while all start ups are in an aggressive growth and acquisition mode. They may actually take advantage of lesser media saturation to build share of voice. The cancellation is somewhat likely to cast a little shadow of uncertainty even on the World Cup. But only the next few months will tell us the way for sure." Chetan Asher, Founder &amp; CEO - Tonic Worldwide said, "IPL is a major vehicle for visibility for startups in India and brands associated with the event can become a household name, from a marketing perspective. While the suspension derails the opportunity for them, given the current context that's unavoidable and a step in the right direction. However, they can channelise their investments and energy in trying to make a difference by partnering with NGO’s providing relief during Covid-19." Earlier this year, a report from Duff &amp; Phelps had revealed that the value of the IPL ecosystem witnessed a 3.6% dip in 2020. So how will the suspension this year further impact its value? Varun Gupta, Managing Director and Head Valuation Advisory- APAC, Duff &amp; Phelps, A Kroll Business said, “If the tournament had merely been suspended and restarted within a week or two, it might not have much of a difference to the revenues of the IPL or that of the franchisees. However, it appears that that the tournament is postponed indefinitely, which would have the following impact – Firstly, IPL would suffer significant revenue losses for the current season. There will be loss of sponsorship and broadcasting revenues for BCCI. The league was already coping with loss of revenues from ticket sales and in-stadia F&amp;B, besides the loss of revenue last year due to <keyword id="215177" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vivo">VIVO</keyword> pulling out for the 2020 season. Secondly, the teams will also suffer revenue losses on account of reduced revenue from the central pool and loss of team sponsorship revenues. Having said that, one must also acknowledge that while it was ongoing over the last few weeks, the IPL provided 3-4 hours of much needed diversion and relief to the Indian masses who are reeling under a barrage of bad news on the Covid front. IPL’s ability to pull TV audiences continues unabated. Secondly, the value of any enterprise is based on its future cash earning capacity. To our mind, while there will be some revenue loss this year, the future revenue generation ability of the IPL is undiminished.” Sanjay Mehta, Joint CEO of Mirum India said that while the move will have an impact on brands, it also gives them time to rethink their communication strategies. “The suspension of the IPL, then, is going to hurt all those brands. Many (such as CRED, for example) would have invested significant sums in new creatives. Others would have planned campaign schedules and connected the same to product demand forecasts and inventory placement in stores. These plans will all get impacted, as finding alternate spots to run that kind of ad inventory will not be easy. On the other hand, many businesses and their customers are themselves impacted due to the second wave of Covid and might see this as a sigh of relief in a way, as they might save money for ad inventory that is not run. Also, at a time when the mood of a large number of citizens is very low, having "in-your-face" advertising urging you to purchase something as if life was normal, was a little jarring too. Maybe this break gives them time to rethink their creative strategies, for communication in the midst of the Covid challenges,” he said. Ambika Sharma, Founder &amp; MD, Pulp Strategy added, “The battle with Covid-19 which started a year ago has disrupted the operations across the globe. In India, with its huge populace it has become a daunting task to overcome despite safety and Covid-19 protocols. The IPL which is an extremely popular event that everyone looks forward to, should not have been allowed as the charm and excitement of watching and engaging on the ground cannot be matched with watching it at home without your friends and dear ones and right now you see only devastation in either your neighbourhood, family or anywhere. The high stakes of IPL should have been looked into, especially when we see players falling to Covid infections. The infection can have multiple manifestations on the health of the players which can lead to serious lifelong illness. While we stare at huge losses, be it for the Sponsors, Broadcasters and BCCI, the environment is least conducive to host these matches. A mutually agreeable formula by key stakeholders can be adopted transparently to arrive at a decision, especially when the medical experts are warning us about the Covid peak.” Speaking about the impact of the move on brands as well as agencies that have worked on campaigns for their clients, Shradha Agarwal, COO and Strategy Head- Grapes Digital said, "This is definitely going to affect the marketers. There are creative works, campaigns that are yet to be launched as brands were waiting for the IPL to enter its second phase. In May many brands would have come out with ads and campaigns because the IPL advertising inventory is sold through long term contracts that are signed before the tournament begins. This will also impact digital agencies that are ready to launch their campaigns with influencers based on IPL. There are few possibilities, firstly, the IPL is suspended and not dropped hence, advertisers will wait for the league to resume or some clients would cease the campaign and work on Plan B because the budget was allocated for a specific period, and if the quarter changes they will back out. Small advertisers might take the route of moving to regular inventory instead of investing for the remainder of the season in one go." What route the broadcaster takes in the next few days to rejig its advertising deals with brands and sponsors is something we will need to wait and watch.

As IPL gets suspended indefinitely, experts discuss the broad implications of the move on all stakeholders

<ul><li>On <keyword id="6696937" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="International-Womens-Day">International Women's Day</keyword>, we shone the spotlight on women in leadership in the advertising, marketing and media industry. We spoke about their learnings and asked them for their advice, towards making a more gender-equal industry.</li><li>Here are a few key takeaways from the panel discussion that comprised <keyword id="3932871" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="rubeena-singh">Rubeena Singh</keyword>, CEO, <keyword id="4120995" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="iProspect">iProspect</keyword> India, <keyword id="3123098" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Neena-Dasgupta">Neena Dasgupta</keyword>, CEO and Director, <keyword id="3541423" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ZIRCA">Zirca</keyword> Digital Solutions, <keyword id="2738740" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Priti-Murthy">Priti Murthy</keyword>, CEO, <keyword id="1860596" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="OMD-India">OMD India</keyword> and <keyword id="5500567" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Roopa-Badrinath">Roopa Badrinath</keyword>, Chief Talent Officer, <keyword id="7067090" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wunderman-Thompson">Wunderman Thompson</keyword>, South Asia.</li></ul>Advertising, media and marketing is one industry that has a lot of women entering the workforce. It is also perhaps one industry that has many leaders who are women too. However, we still have to cover a lot of distance when it comes to achieving <keyword id="6372584" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="gender-equality">gender equality</keyword>. To understand how things are in the ad world and what more needs to change, we spoke to a power-packed panel comprising Rubeena Singh, CEO, iProspect India, Neena Dasgupta, CEO and Director, Zirca Digital Solutions, Priti Murthy, CEO, OMD India and Roopa Badrinath, Chief Talent Officer, Wunderman Thompson, South Asia. The conversation threw up some really interesting insights and solutions to the problems we have been trying to solve, from leaders who have been a part of the industry’s evolution. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The Past" text="The Past">The Past</cmsannotation> Speaking about how things were in the industry when she just started out, Dasgupta said, “There was a time when I had to work very hard to make myself heard. A male voice would be considered 'information' and a female voice would be considered as 'emotions.' From there, we have come a long way. Ad and marketing today has many senior women leaders. There’s a massive change I have seen and only for the better.” Singh added, “I started my career withe Sales where there would always be snide remarks like, ‘Oh girls get easy appointment with clients because they aren’t rude to you.’ It seemed like a bias that you are getting the job done because you are a woman and not because of your own merit and hardwork. But today there is so much awareness and sensitization that people are very careful about how and what they say.” Sharing how she was lucky to have started working with a lot of bosses who were women, Murthy said, “I have had a wonderful journey in this industry. I did see some bumps but it wasn’t as harsh because I had a lot of women leaders who helped me on this journey. And the beautiful part is, there are more of them now.” Speaking about her journey, Badrinath added, “Many years ago, I had almost got a job with a leading FMCG player, till the interviewer asked me about my plans for settling down. I was naive and frankly shared my thoughts with him, only to be told later that they will get back to me. It’s been years and I am still waiting for them to get back. That was when I decided if I ever held a position of power, I would make sure women did not have to face these biases.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The Present" text="The Present">The Present</cmsannotation> A recent Linkedin study revealed that 1 in every 5 (22%) working women in India said their companies exhibit a ‘favourable bias’ towards men at work. In India, more than 4 in 5 working women (85%) claim to have missed out on a raise, promotion, or work offer because of their gender. More than 1 in 2 women are also looking for more professional connections and mentors who can help them advance their careers, as 65% women agree that lack of guidance through networks is a key opportunity barrier. So how do we make women in the industry more confident about their own merits and encourage them to demand what they rightly deserve? “Women do play small, they want their worth to be seen and identified. They are scared to share a point of view or say that they are as deserving of the role as a man is. There are a lot of people who still look at roles as being dependent on gender. Women have to be extremely conscious about not playing small,” shared Dasgupta. Giving an interesting perspective, Badrinath said that how women think of their own worth also has to do a lot with social conditioning. “There’s a lot of confusion that takes place in people’s minds when they come to the workplace. You have a workplace that is trying to be contemporary, upbeat, talking about equality but at home, there is a completely different thing happening. There, the roles played by say a sister or parents is very different. That confusion leads to a sense of low confidence. You aren’t sure of whether what you are asking for is rightfully yours because the conditioning is saying something else to you,” she said. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The Future" text="The Future">The Future</cmsannotation> Dasgupta shared that there was a need for the industry to have more mentorship programs. “We definitely need more mentorship programs but we also need the mentees to be equally serious about the programs,” she said. Badrinath added, “As an industry, if we are going to be having say a jury for an award show, make sure you have an equal representation of men and women. Because if you have a jury with 8 men and 1 woman, you’re sending a strong signal to the younger generation that all that is happening when it comes to gender equality is just posturing. So the industry has to lead by example in small ways like this. Watch the full conversation here: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="2" retweetcount="1" status="For #InternationalWomensDay this year, @samarpitab in conversation with @iProspectIndia's @rubeenas, @ZircaDigital'… https://t.co/DZ3KykSFMh" createdat="1615199940000" id="1368873883424595969"></div>

Women in Leadership: Past, Present and Future

<ul><li>On the occasion of <keyword id="6696937" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="International-Womens-Day">International Women's Day</keyword>, we thought of discussing how we can ensure we have more women leaders in the years to come.</li><li>Our panel - <keyword id="3932871" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="rubeena-singh">Rubeena Singh</keyword>, CEO, iProspect India, <keyword id="3123098" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Neena-Dasgupta">Neena Dasgupta</keyword>, CEO and Director, Zirca Digital Solutions, <keyword id="2738740" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Priti-Murthy">Priti Murthy</keyword>, CEO, OMD India and <keyword id="5500567" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Roopa-Badrinath">Roopa Badrinath</keyword>, Chief Talent Officer, Wunderman Thompson, South Asia</li><li>Catch our discussion live at 4pm. </li></ul>Advertising is perhaps one of the rare industries that is said to be much more inclusive world. There are enough women who enter the workforce and become an intrinsic part of this world. However, a look at the number of <keyword id="584229" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Women-in-Leadership">women in leadership</keyword> roles shows that there is still some distance left for the industry to traverse. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we thought of talking to a few leaders from the industry, who also happen to be women, on what the real picture in the industry is? Are we really as inclusive as it has been made to be? Are we doing enough to retain women in the workforce? If not, how can the industry, on the whole, change to the numbers and to ensure we have more women leaders in the years to come? In our carefully curated panel today, we will get Rubeena Singh, CEO, iProspect India, Neena Dasgupta, CEO and Director, Zirca Digital Solutions, Priti Murthy, CEO, OMD India and Roopa Badrinath, Chief Talent Officer, Wunderman Thompson, South Asia to answer a few of these questions. Owing to how inspiring all these leaders are, we hope to inspire more women. Join in for this chat on our Facebook and Twitter handles today at 4 pm.

Women in Leadership: Past, Present & Future

<ul><li><keyword id="3123096" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="ZIRCA-Digital-Solutions">Zirca Digital Solutions</keyword> has announced an organisational restructuring to realign its business goals. </li><li>The new knowledge based structure is based on four pillars: Product, Purpose, Place, and People.</li></ul>Zirca Digital Solutions, a 360-degree digital solutions provider for brands, has unveiled a major organisational restructuring to realign its business goals. The new knowledge based structure is based on four pillars: Product, Purpose, Place, and People. Given the fast-changing marketing landscape, data is critical to decision making. With the consistent rise in internet-based technology and services, consumers’ decision making process will get more complex. These complexities will make consumer understanding more challenging than ever. Big data will play an important role to personalise and build newer consumer experiences. This will eventually enable brands to accurately study and engage with consumers. Zirca understands the need for innovation and deeper knowledge in this rapidly changing digital marketing industry. The new structure will elevate the company’s positioning to be ahead of the curve by delivering smarter solutions for the new era of digital advertising. The purpose of the structure is to shift to knowledge teams rather than hierarchical teams enabling each function and role to contribute to the growth of the organization. To enable deeper connections and engagement with the brand’s audiences, the company aims to customise conversations based on mindsets through its proprietary tools – ConsumeriQ, CreativeiQ, and ContentiQ – to facilitate meaningful conversations and create conversations where none exist. The company is backed by a pedigreed team of innovators and risk takers with over 200 years of collective experience in digital advertising. Under the new structure, a leaner organisation will be implemented and each team will focus on the knowledge set rather than hierarchy with a mission to achieve greater return on investment. As per the knowledge based structure, the executive management is now divided under knowledge verticals and their heads, and the key drivers are: · Hemali Dave will be managing a broader role as the Director of Revenue · <keyword id="10334257" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="vamsi-sanskarayogi">Vamsi Sanskarayogi</keyword> will lead the Technology and Solutions division at Zirca · Rupin Nanani will lead as the Head of ConsumeriQ, Research and Analytics · <keyword id="5802434" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Prateek-Sinha">Prateek Sinha</keyword> will lead as Head of Finance · <keyword id="10334256" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="indrajeit-borkakoty">Indrajeit Borkakoty</keyword> will lead the HR function and drive strategic people initiatives as a consultant to succeed as a knowledge based organisation · Anuj Katiyar, in an advisory role, will look after Marketing as a Consultant Zirca’s team of more than 100 experts and partners, across India, South-East Asia, and North Asia enables it to rapidly engage with partners. <keyword id="3123098" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Neena-Dasgupta">Neena Dasgupta</keyword>, CEO and Director, Zirca Digital Solutions, said: “In a digital marketing landscape that is ever evolving, we at Zirca have always thrived to provide the best digital solutions to our brands. We have been steadfast in our purpose to facilitate meaningful conversations and to enable that, we are constantly innovating to drive value for our brand and agency partners. Our new organisational structure has been designed in a manner so as to provide knowledge based expertise to our clients and partners and deliver faster, efficacious and impactful solutions and services. The structure allows a sharper focus on result oriented endeavours.” <keyword id="215932" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Karan-Gupta">Karan Gupta</keyword>, Managing Director, Zirca, said: “Our growth approach from day one has been to stay ahead of the curve rather than adapt to times. And this post COVID era is set to throw new challenges at us. We believe we are agile and while this restructuring is a huge step, it will only renew our focus on growth.”

Zirca restructures to stay ahead of the curve by delivering smarter solutions for the new era of digital advertising

<ul><li>Neena Dasgupta, CEO &amp; Director at Zirca Digital Solutions pens down how after decades of debates on issues like gender diversity, equal opportunities, and pay parity things are finally improving for women.</li><li>She further writes how <keyword id="1557537" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="representation-of-women">representation of women</keyword> in senior positions is still a significant factor of why we see fewer women in the workplace. </li><li>Dasgupta suggests that lack of representation is also the reason why a pay gap exists and one that needs to be rectified in the future.</li></ul>Over the past decade, the industry has undergone a major transformation in all aspects. Women today have made great headway. They are fighting odds, braving gender bias and creating a space for themselves in the industry. Women are taking the front seat of all spheres. After decades of debates on issues like gender diversity, equal opportunities, and pay parity things are finally improving for women. They’re slowly and steadily proving their prowess in the corporate world, making the point loud and clear that they mean business and are here to stay. Early on in the corporate setup women faced inequalities in their working environment because of a lack of education and learning opportunities because of which they weren’t aware of their rights and capabilities which would help them understand their rights in their workspace. In today’s day and age women have evolved from being homemakers to professionals but continue to face many challenges where they have to prove themselves capable of competing against male colleagues in various fields including the professional sphere. Even today there are segments of the society that find it hard to accept the fact that women have come a long way Times have changed. Today with the changes in the society and with economic and technological advancements, the workplace has changed with progressive laws being implemented that has been conducive for the working woman. This has resulted in a massive number of women entering a workforce with a higher position as compared to men. The modern workplace has changed for the better. Today men and women are working from shoulder to shoulder equally, with equal talent, and understanding this wasn’t the same before. There are ample opportunities for women to become what she wants to without people deciding for her. Organizations today look after women’s safety and their rights. One can argue that our patriarchal society has been instrumental for the level of inequality faced by women. But now I believe it is high time that we no longer conform to societal nations and rise above these limits. From questions to our work life to other duties, these are questions that women should no longer be answerable to. Our commitment towards work is no less than men and in a way is greater than what men bring to the table, balancing the added responsibilities of a wife, mother and any other roles that we play. The key is to give all employees the freedom to decide their own work-life balance and listen to what their unique needs might be. An ambitious woman for an employer will be one to vie for. That said representation of women in senior positions is still a significant factor of why we see fewer women in the workplace. It is also the reason why a pay gap exists and one that needs to be rectified in the future. Research from India’s leading diversity and inclusion consulting firm Avtar Group shows that women are paid 34% less than men for performing the same job with the same qualification. This sort of discrimination for whatever reasons attributed to isn’t one that can be taken lightly and shouldn’t be accepted. As the CEO of an organization I have taken decisions that can be considered ruthless and at other times I have taken decisions while keeping faith in people that have been repaid ten times over. Perhaps that is something that can only be gauged by the sensibilities that a woman in my position can bring. What is imperative however is that unless we can have a greater pool of women working, unearthing great talent and what they can contribute is impossible. The time is indeed right to fix this. - By Neena Dasgupta, CEO &amp; Director at Zirca Digital Solutions

Why our industry needs to bridge the gender pay-gap

<ul><li>Zirca's partnership with <keyword id="8375888" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="colab-media-consulting">CoLab Media Consulting</keyword> comprises <keyword id="8375890" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="research-and-insight">research and insight</keyword> that will underpin the development of an exciting new business proposition.</li><li>The research and analysis will enable Zirca to scale its technology to global parity while also developing a proposition that will drive greater clarity and resonate with the digital domain.</li><li>Colab will also be involved in finalizing Zirca’s messaging to promote the proposition taking into consideration the ‘go-to-market’ prospects for the brand.</li></ul>In an attempt to take its business to the next level, <keyword id="3123096" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ZIRCA-Digital-Solutions">Zirca Digital Solutions</keyword> has partnered with UK based CoLab Media Consulting. The 3-stage broad-reaching project comprises research and insight that will underpin the development of an exciting new business proposition. CoLab is working with Zirca to create a holistic brand proposition that will consolidate both its national and global aspirations. The research and analysis will enable Zirca to scale its technology to global parity while also developing a proposition that will drive greater clarity and resonate with the digital domain. Building on the analysis of the research gathered across stages, CoLab will generate ideas for the value proposition. This will be done in association with the leadership team at Zirca enabling sector experts to sit across and mutually decide on the most apt proposition. Colab will also be involved in finalizing Zirca’s messaging to promote the proposition taking into consideration the ‘go-to-market’ prospects for the brand. <keyword id="3123098" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Neena-Dasgupta">Neena Dasgupta</keyword>, CEO &amp; Director, Zirca said, “Zirca has always seen an exponential growth in business over the years. This initiative will accelerate the organization to meet the new challenges of consumer-led marketing and integrated strategies that are driving brands today. We are happy to partner with CoLab as they understood the brief almost instantaneously and are working in tandem to bring out the best results. The association will bring in the much required outreach in international markets.” <keyword id="8375889" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Duncan-Arthur">Duncan Arthur</keyword>, Co-founder, CoLab Media Consulting said, “The Zirca project is a rare opportunity to support a market-leading brand develop a new and exciting proposition. Zirca needs to not only build on its current business but extend this opportunity to a broader audience. Extending and deepening their unique partnership with clients and reaching new prospects will be a decisive outcome of this extensive project” The messaging and proposition will be further ingrained into the core areas of Zirca’s business such as advertising and content solutions.

Zirca partners with UK-based CoLab Media Consulting to expand its business

<ul><li>The first half of 2020 was so unusual and unprecedented that the ad industry took a nosedive to as low as -60%.</li><li>Businesses of all kinds and sizes suffered and put their advertising activities on hold to give their consumers space to process the unprecedented times.</li><li>So, after a year and a half of lull, brands and advertisers went all out with their marketing activities during the festive season this year. Consumers were extra excited to step out, shop zealously and as most research studies reflected, Diwali exceeded expectations and broke previous records.</li><li>So, we speak to media experts and digital agencies to find out if the advertising industry has managed to bounce back this year, discuss the industry’s spending so far and their expectations from the last festival of the season, Christmas.</li></ul>After a year and a half of celebrating festivals virtually, Indian consumers were excited to have some sense of normalcy back this year during the festive season. Advertisers and brands also went all out to leverage on this uptick in consumer sentiment, starting from Raksha Bandhan to Diwali. Experts were also hopeful that the festive season will bring in cheer and serve as a respite from the pandemic-associated slumber. According to Redseer Consulting, 2021 saw India witness its biggest ever Festive Sales with brands clocking a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of $9.2 billion through online channels over this period. Online Festive Sales in India continued to grow at a blistering pace and saw a 23% YoY growth in GMV. On the other hand, the categories that witnessed subdued growth this year included the likes of home furnishings, home decor, furnishings and other electronics. Looking back at 2020, Eeshita Ghosh, General Manager and Office Head, Motivator Bangalore said, “The festival of 2021 is definitely better than 2020 and as high if not more than 2019. The ad volume started picking up from Q3 of 2021 and with more than 20% growth over 2019 Q3. The festival months saw multiple new advertisers getting active, approximately 2000+ new advertisers are active in media. The inventory was full, and the market sentiments were very positive. With festival and IPL, media was very active with multiple new categories.” A lot of hopes were banking on the festive season for the industry's overall revival, however, unlike Ghosh, Neena Dasgupta, CEO &amp; Director, Zirca Digital Solutions was a little disappointed; not with the numbers but with overall creativity. Explaining why, Dasgupta said, “Honestly, the performance fell short of expectations. Not only in terms of volume but also the kind of activities. I felt our methods possibly regressed a bit to remain cautious and conservative. Innovative ideas were few and yet each of them benefited. The consumer is now more aware and it’s time we took their psychometric into consideration. And at times where media dollars need to be more efficient and effective, we have to embrace tech that allows us to capture the consumer mindset and then deploy media buys across mediums.” Sharing how the festive season has panned out so far for the advertising industry, Dasgupta added, “It’s been an interesting festive season. There was exuberance in the consumer spirit and it reflected in some categories. And yet the exuberance didn’t necessarily translate into communication to the same scale. This was possibly a combination of inflation, economic imbalance at consumer levels and some category constraints that impacted sales. What was interesting g though was the growth in rural activities at the consumer end and advertising end too. Every medium had its share. And fintech growth made some aspirations real for this segment. We now have a fascinating growth story for Bharat.” With a steady monsoon and plump harvest so far, it was a cheerful year for rural India as well. They spent their harvest festivals with more enthusiasm and happiness to share with their loved ones. Brands also left no stone unturned to expand their marketing activities beyond metro and Tier I cities this year. In fact, this year, Tier II and III had the lion’s share in e-commerce spends. Will we return to 2019’s ad spends? After June, the advertising industry’s performance picked up by leaps and bounds. Raksha Bandhan, Ganesh Chaturthi and ace festival Diwali, improved consumer sentiment and helped the advertising industry to bounce back. But have we returned to 2019’s levels? “The ADEX numbers for October and November are yet to come, but as we observed from our billing, we are positive that it has bounced back to 2019 levels,” said Ghosh. Dasgupta told Advertising and Media Insider that regional and rural markets exceeded 2019’s performance but some markets are yet to reach there. Decoding media dispersion this festive season While there was buoyancy across the board, television got the most attention from advertisers yet again, followed by digital. Talking about medium dispersion, Monaz Todywalla, CEO at PHD Media India said, “In terms of mediums, television and digital continue to drive impact and lead from the front, with digital playing a vital role in ensuring last-mile connectivity and driving sales across multiple touchpoints. Raman Mittal, CMO and Co-Founder, TO THE NEW was delighted to see digital getting a bigger piece of pie than 2020. He said, "COVID revolutionized the way people shop. We saw businesses go all out on digital channels this Diwali season to communicate with potential clients. Companies have adjusted their attention on digital marketing to stay up with new shopping channels and get the biggest piece of the pie as a result of continual digital transformation." "Interaction and Influencers were the two themes that peaked this festive season," Raman continued. "Giveaways, contests, and online polls were used to promote interactive content. In addition, the top celebrities were enlisted to help brands stand out amid the crowd. These tendencies, we believe, will last well into Christmas and New Year." Within digital, video got the most attention and while traditional advertisers continued to spend heavily, they were matched and at times exceeded by online services/startups. Mihir Karkare, Cofounder and EVP of Mirum India said, "The videos ruled the roost this festive season. Online video platforms were in great demand – YouTube and OTT were the preferred choices for brands. Apart from Diwali, all the cricketing action also contributed heavily towards increased advertising spends. From a 'growth of share' standpoint, Influencer marketing as come of age." Hopes rest on Christmas Christmas is the last festival of the year. Will it give an additional impetus and help the advertising industry exceed 2019’s performance? “Christmas is a bit low, but we have seen many advertisers continuing with the momentum built during the Q3 period. I expect Q4 to be like Q2 and will be higher than Q4 of 2020 and close to 2019 Q4,” answered Ghosh. PHD Media’s Todywalla is optimistic that the momentum will continue and brands will keep up with their marketing blitzkrieg. “With consumers showing an increased propensity to spend, pent-up demand from brands translating into a bouquet of launches - complimented by high-decibel marketing campaigns, and an overall increase in consumption and sales from all corners of the media and entertainment ecosystem, the festivities have ushered in a season that's peppered with a healthy dose of optimism. We believe this wave of hope and optimism is expected to be carried forth into the coming year too," said Todywalla. With a huge push from key festivals such as Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi and Raksha Bandhan, cautious optimism continues to thrive in the advertising industry.

Has 2021’s festive season given India’s advertising industry a big enough push to recover from the 2020 after-effect?

<ul><li>Zirca Digital Solutions’ whitepaper, ‘Re-start Trends During the Pandemic’, examines key categories to gauge consumer sentiment and to identify how sectors are rebounding.</li><li>As per the report, the number of minutes spent on fitness-based platforms/apps grew 5300%, from 73 million in Q3 FY'19 to 3,917 million in Q4 FY'20. </li></ul>The COVID-19 pandemic dealt many businesses a severe blow, but some categories grew and continue to do so in tough conditions. As the lockdown withdrew, some categories bounced back immediately while others are reviving slowly. With people at home, <keyword id="1929798" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="content-consumption">content consumption</keyword> increased across categories and consumers turned to the internet to not just unwind, but survive, enhance and upskill as well. Many tried to become more aware of issues like personal finance while others leaned towards personal well-being. Zirca Digital Solutions’ whitepaper, ‘Re-start Trends During the Pandemic’, examines key content categories that grew during the lockdown and classifies them under ‘Survival’, ‘Work +Upskill’, and ‘Money’ and ‘Unwind’. The whitepaper is part of Zirca’s ‘Ungeek’ knowledge series that simplifies facts to help businesses take better decisions and studies content consumption data and trends between Q2 FY’19 and Q4 FY’20. Among the categories that did well was contactless payment modes and app. The reach of payment-based platforms grew from 208 million in Q2 FY’19 to 291 million in Q4 FY’20. A slight decline was observed to 288 million in Q3 FY’20, but reach was still higher than in Q2 FY’19. Among the others that worked flawlessly were health, cooking and recipe sites, upskilling and money. Some highlights from the study: <ul><li>The pandemic made people more conscious about health and fitness. The number of minutes spent on fitness-based platforms/apps grew 5300%, from 73 million in Q3 FY'19 to 3,917 million in Q4 FY'20</li><li>Total time spent of the popular recipe website Tarladalal.com surged 2110% during the period as the absence of external house help blurred the line dividing gender roles. </li><li>61% people felt it was important to upgrade new skills in Q3 FY’20 compared to 48% in Q3’ FY’19 due to job security concerns </li><li>People widened their financial acumen and actively participated in taking charge of their finances. As a result, 42% of found themselves better at managing money after the lockdown. </li><li>More leisure time helped online gaming portals increase their reach from 80 million in Q2 FY'19 to 120 million in Q4 FY'20.</li></ul>Sectors like automobile, e-commerce and sports are bouncing back as the unlock phases progress. <ul><li>82% now prefer owning a vehicle over using public transport or shared services as they are perceived as unsafe and risky. </li><li>The economic slowdown lowered e-commerce as deliveries were affected during the initial period of the lockdown. Major players like Amazon and Flipkart saw a plateau in Q2 FY’20 in terms of reach, but not a real decline as dependencies were higher on E-commerce since people ventured out less. </li><li>The lockdown also impacted the subcategories of E-commerce, however the focus on health &amp; wellness, and practice of work from home leading to requirement on office essentials at home could have led to lesser impact on home furnishing and e-pharma. </li><li>The reach of sports-based platforms dipped from 114 million in Q2 FY’19 to 111 million in Q4 FY’20. The last quarter saw a resurgence with the return of the cricket season. </li></ul>Some sectors are still struggling to survive. The days of a thriving business in luxury, travel, navigation, eating out – as well as jobs – are a sweet memory and a hope for the future. <ul><li>There was 38% dip in time spent on travel platforms, and 79% dip in hotels/resorts category in Q4 FY’20 compared to Q4 FY’19 as travel, tourism and hospitality appeared to be the hardest hit sector. </li><li>The decline of economic activity led companies to retrench their workforce. With no new job postings, the time spent on career sites reduced by 42% in Q4 FY’20 when compared to Q4 FY’19. </li><li>The financial crunch reduced people's interest in real estate. As a result, platforms related to the sector saw a near 30% decline in the total time spent in Q4 FY’20. </li></ul>The lockdown also led to a major behavioural shift. While people worried about the technology and social media and its impact on our lives prior to the lockdown, they have also realised the boon in times like these. 46% people like to keep themselves updated with news, 41% feel social media is good for the society, and 37% people feel in control of their personal data. Neena Dasgupta, CEO and Director, Zirca Digital Solutions, said: “At ZIRCA, we always put our bets on knowledge, research and insights driven decisions. Our “Ungeek” series is an effort to collate business and consumer insights and translate them into actionable intelligence for the digital and marketing fraternity. ZIRCA will always strive to present the industry and consumers with insights that will help them make better business decisions. We consciously started the series with this particular topic because past few months witnessed lots of changes across the spectrum and it is more critical now than ever to have actionable intelligence to improve recovery”. Karan Gupta, Managing Director, Zirca, added: “Data” is fast becoming a commodity, and it is getting difficult by the day to actually filter out key insights from a mountain of easily available data. ZIRCA has uniquely positioned itself to be able to collate large amount of data and filter out key insights from them. Within “Ungeek” you will not only find the width of information but the depth of these insights as well. We hope that this series helps the readers by presenting them with more comprehensible facts and figures” the pandemic has influenced fundamental transformations in businesses, many of them driven by attitudinal changes.

Number of minutes spent on fitness-based platforms and apps grew 5300% Q4 FY'20: Zirca

<ul><li>If an industry can flourish during a global pandemic and one of the worst economic crises we had to face, it can survive through any challenges that come in its way.</li><li>Digital media has proven time and again how integral it is to the advertising industry’s survival and growth.</li><li>However, every year brings with it a set of challenges different from the previous one. So, in our second year-ender, we look at digital marketing, its growth trajectory and look at what lies ahead.</li><li>Experts are optimistic that 2022 will be a game-changer that will help them redefine a lot of rules in advertising, with smarter marketing techniques.</li></ul>The digital marketing industry in India not only managed to weather the pandemic’s impact but also flourished gracefully in 2020. It accelerated at an unbelievable speed, exceeding all predictions and expectations. Brands were quick to adapt, pivoting aggressively from traditional mediums to invest in digital. Digital media became one of the most effective mediums to reach out to people locked inside their houses and stuck to their phone and tablet screens. This trend of increased smartphone consumption is only expected to amplify as more people, especially in Tier II and III cities, engage more digitally and make purchase decisions through websites, apps, social media platforms. Apps have undoubtedly become the most popular destination for consumers and marketers are capitalizing on this trend to engage with them. As per GroupM’s TYNY report, global digital advertising should account for 64.4% of total advertising in 2021, up from 60.5% in 2020 and 52.1% in 2019. Zenith also estimates that global adspend will reach $705 billion in 2021, up from $634 billion in 2019, and will rise to $873 billion by 2024. Digital marketing in India is also at the cusp of a massive revolution as brands explore options beyond <keyword id="640850" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-media-marketing" source="Orion">social media marketing</keyword> within the digital ecosystem and look to expand their presence across regional markets. RedSeer predicts that India’s digital ad expenditure will grow 10 times over the next decade and will likely account for 70-85% of the total ad market, which currently stands at 33%. It is expected to touch $25-35 billion by 2030 from $3 billion in 2020. So, without a doubt, digital marketing is the future of advertising and the only way brands can grow is by harnessing various digital tools. From buying medicine to groceries or shopping for a wedding, many consumers who would otherwise prefer to browse and purchase in person, have moved to online shopping due to the limitations that the pandemic threw at them. This quick change in consumer behaviour, accelerated by the pandemic, gave a push to e-commerce, performance marketing, augmented reality, mobile marketing, digital animation, video content, voice search, audio advertising and influencer marketing. In this last year, Instagram has also moved beyond just a discovery platform and influencer-led commerce has arrived earlier than expected. According to WARC, Instagram grew to become the largest social media platform globally in 2021 after overtaking the core Facebook platform for the first time. Instagram is forecast to grow to control over a third of the global social media market in 2023. Apart from social commerce, Instagram’s parent company’s Metaverse was the hot topic and trailblazer of 2021. In 2022, more brands will prepare for the next phase of the internet, include Metaverse in their marketing strategy and experiment with AR and VR. As we enter a new year and it brings a new set of challenges, different from the previous one, we speak to digital marketing experts, discuss the industry’s growth trajectory and look at what lies ahead. Here’s what experts had to say about digital marketing’s future in India: Neena Dasgupta, CEO and Director, Zirca Digital Solutions: The dominant trend that seems imminent and set to grow is the cross media measurement. The customer connect is critical given the significant shift in consumption patterns. Understanding the impact of the mediums and planning connect basis that is an inevitability. This would require customer segmentation by cohorts, enablement of linking these cohorts between brand and publisher (any medium) and tracking response and measuring attribution using data integration at a CRM level. The entire system is data and tech driven supported by psychometric tools for the purpose of cohort creation and mapping. All in real time. Single source panel is the need of the hour. And there are multiple measurement organisations working together on this. More importantly it’s critical that a brand understands trading needs to be made more efficient by enabling customer segmentation in real time that can be activated using programmatic means, also in real time. The data pool and nodes will take some time to build as in any data led ML, and eventually it’s data science and creativity at work to engage prospects. Harshil Karia, Co-founder and Managing Director, Schbang: I think two big trends will dominate marketing: 1) More and more brands using a combination of technology to enrich what they do at last mile conversion, data management, and using the marketing data as signals to business and sales teams more effectively. Expect more martech being deployed. And expect more people to learn martech and it's capabilities and the ability to learn and unlearn the same. 2) The use of automation will start to affect creativity. One ad can be delivered in a 100 ways using video Ai and voice. One copy can be written in many ways customised to context. The writers to can work well with an Ai and make it their friend will do well. An Ai works as well as the instructional data it recieves. The factor that will help drive this is increased demands from CEOs to integrate the marketing function into large scale business processes and have the vision to see the value it can unlock - a push but also some patience. The automation allows marketing to now affect at scale far more parts of the organisation than they already have. Marketers and creators will do well to be curious and have a learn it all attitude while knowing and deepening their craft on copy and design." Prashant Puri, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, AdLift: We’re entering the organic first age where prioritizing organic search becomes paramount. We see content playing a vital role here, be it optimizing for voice search or improving user experience via engaging content across all brand touchpoint. We estimate influencer marketing spends to catapult to $150 to $225 in 2022 with brands doubling down on influencer led marketing campaigns across nano, micro and macro influencers - capturing 7 to 9% of overall digital marketing spends in India. Chandni Shah, Founder and COO, Kinnect: The one trend I see dominating 2022 is Social Commerce. The e-commerce industry experienced accelerated growth with the pandemic, and social commerce emerged as the 'flavour of the year'. Social media platforms too joined the bandwagon and introduced features and tools to enhance the consumer journey - from product discovery to purchasing them on/through the platform itself. Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 contributed significantly to the new era of online social retail. In 2020, Facebook introduced Instagram shops, integrating e-commerce and the world's most popular social media platform. In the Covid-19 pandemic, the worldwide social commerce market is anticipated to increase at a whopping <a href="https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5140143/social-commerce-global-market-trajectory-and?utm_source=GNOM&amp;utm_medium=PressRelease&amp;utm_code=rm7g2f&amp;utm_campaign=1434938+-+Global+Social+Commerce+Market+Worth+%24604.5+Billion+by+2027+-+COVID-19+Updated&amp;utm_exec=joca220prd" target="_blank">31.4</a>%. By 2021, social commerce will continue to expand as consumers stick to digital habits, whilst e-commerce and conventional retailers adjust to the post-Covid-19 reality. Combining e-commerce with social media can be highly valuable; it allows consumers to look for brands via social media platforms and search for products they wouldn't usually look for on an e-commerce website. Brand hunt, influencers, and mobile payments are examples of social commerce in action. Thanks to AI, marketers can now gather real-time data on consumers and transform it into actionable insights. The upcoming year will see more users turn into buyers and make purchases through social commerce. Brands that haven't explored the opportunity yet will be quick to jump onto this trend. To sum this up, the shorter the buyers' journey will be, the lesser chance of them abandoning products in their cart. Hareesh Tibrewala Joint CEO of Mirum India: Covid has taught us that every business, big or small, B2B or B2C, irrespective of the category -- needs to have a way of reaching out to the consumers online, be able to showcase ones products and services, collect payment and make delivery. We will see e-commerce driving investments in the area of technology, content creation and media. We will see continued expansion of market places as well as emergence of D2C brands. Within ecommerce we will see movement towards voice-based ordering as well as conversational commerce Harsh Shah, EVP, Business- North and West, Dentsu Webchutney: 2022 is going to be the year of alternate digital realities. Yes, the metaverse! That moment in time where our digital life seamlessly co-exists with our physical life. That year, where our virtual possessions are of as much worth as our real-life possessions. Bank accounts and crypto wallets. Art works and NFTs. One of the key outlooks for brands should be to see how they can use 2022 to prep themselves to be not only present in the metaverse but also for immersive storytelling. With growing interest in the concept and it being part of popular culture, will accelerate adoption. It will outgrow the internet in adoption. Also, with 5G hitting the market, it can act as a great platform to drive that initial burst of growth. Shradha Agarwal, COO and Strategy Head- Grapes: In my opinion, AI will play a crucial role in the digital marketing ecosphere. We have witnessed that from data collection to geo-fencing, AI has been helping businesses grow extensively. The technology comes with such a great combination that it has been used widely in certain aspects such as content creation, chatbots and search engines. Sectors like retail, e-commerce, banking, healthcare, gaming and others are already backed upon on artificial intelligence as it helps them recognize consumer behaviour, search patterns and it also helps businesses understand how customers find their products and services. In the coming time, we would see many others sectors trying their hands on the tool marketers want good sales and better ROI through their marketing strategy. Therefore, AI applications can predict what customers are likely to buy in the future based on their past purchases and browsing history. With this approach, it becomes easier for them to target their users. Also, AI use is becoming of utmost importance for those companies whose business depends on smartphones and drive sales through social media. Hence, AI as a market will grow exponentially. Raman Mittal, CMO and Co-Founder, TO THE NEW: I believe the dominant trend of 2022 will be Contextual Targeting. Contextual targeting isn’t something new, but for a while it was in the shadows because it’s performance was lower than Behavioral Targeting that used cookies. But in this cookie-less world, the modes of serving personalized ads to the audience have shrunk and marketers are moving back to contextual targeting. Whether it is category, keyword, or semantic contextual targeting, it will be exciting to see future developments in this arena. Mohit Gyanchandani, Head, media planning and growth, DCMN India: For several years, the marketing industry has witnessed an ongoing contest between performance and brand marketing in terms of budget, resources and impact. But in 2022, we predict that the old dichotomy between the two will become increasingly blurred. This is in part due to the impact of COVID on businesses. After a volatile 18 months, many organisations are re-evaluating their goals and moulding themselves to survive and thrive in this new economy. Above all, companies know that to succeed, they need to build brand salience. We’re already seeing that for many of our clients, it’s not simply about brand versus performance anymore: the two need to work in tandem. That means bringing both sides of marketing even closer together and building fully integrated, 360 degree campaigns that power growth and build brand recognition across online and offline channels. Marketers will also start looking at results more holistically. Instead of just looking at one specific channel and its impact on direct KPIs, they will look at results through a broader lens: for example, the impact that a TV campaign might have on digital channels like search or retargeting. This doesn’t mean that pure performance-driven campaigns are going away completely. The best approach for a brand will always depend on the company’s stage of growth and their overall marketing goals. But for companies looking to scale, taking a fully integrated approach will be key to achieving cut-through in an increasingly competitive industry." Ankur Gattani, VP - Growth and Marketing, WebEngage around MarTech: Majority of Indian organizations have been using a mix bag of first-party (1P) and third-party (3P) data for marketing and advertising. However, the usage and impact of 1P data are expected to amplify in 2022 in a big way. This trend will dominantly be driven by the legal framework that will prohibit the usage of 3P data and force the adoption for 1P. Organisations like Amazon and Netflix have spoilt the customers with their personalisation mechanisms. What this means is that customers expect personalisation from the websites and apps that they visit. Marketeers will have to make optimal use of data and analytics to bring that level of experience for their customers. Reports suggest that over 80% of marketeers see benefits in leveraging consumer data for marketing. At WebEngage, we work 100% on 1P customer data and we believe this trend will not only help our clients engage with consumers in a meaningful manner but also improve their business ROI. Shivani Kamdar - Associate Creative Director, SoCheers: 2020 &amp; 2021 showed us how content is still the centrepiece of every marketing communication and how brands went the extra mile to establish a better connection with their audience. The coming year is going to be no different, in fact "Localisation of Content" is the need of the hour. A marketing technique for product promotion leveraging the local culture of the target areas by studying their preference, likes, dislikes. The customer begins to relate with the content at a subconscious level which in turn not only helps aid their purchase decision but in the long run, also helps forge a better recall for the brand. One of the key factors that will help drive this trend home is ground research - an intense focus on understanding the consumer intent by renewing SEO efforts. The other is the medium of communication. Building the right story is not enough; finding the most compelling way to sell it will do just the right thing. Will that copy be more relatable as a video or will adding audio to this help enhance the user experience? Consumers are craving interactive, consumable, entertaining content be it on mobile or across social channels; question is, will you give it to them? Dia Kirpalani, VP, Head of Strategy, Blink Digital: As we move into 2022 and beyond, we believe that both marketers and consumers will increasingly seek a clearly demonstrable line to value. To achieve this, marketers will need to harness the ability of end-to-end measurement, with an eye on their north star metric. India is moving online more than ever. With everything from shoppable content on social media, to conversational commerce bringing India's smaller towns further into the fold, this measurement is progressively important to assess where and how to communicate. Meanwhile, consumers will seek value and authenticity from their brands. Brands that win consumers' hearts will meet consumers where they are with content that has real relevance, whether they access it through voice, video or vernacular. Brands will need to also provide consumers an exceedingly easy content consumption or shopping experience through hiccup-free, friendly interfaces. Importantly, content will also need to authentically reflect evolving consumer values, and this will help determine what brands should communicate. For brands looking to scale up further, this combination of multiple elements is what will ultimately drive value. Rahul Nanwani, Co-founder &amp; CEO of ImageKit: It is predicted that globally, 82% of consumer web traffic in 2022 would be from videos. With India’s video market set to touch $18 billion by 2026, it will soon play a dominant role in digital marketing as well. Short-form videos have already attracted the attention of many Indians and the market is predicted to reach 650 million users by 2025. Thus, if brands need to reach a wider audience in the coming year, they need to utilize tools that will maximize their outreach through videos. Video optimization and media management tools help improve internal collaboration for teams creating the videos and then ensure that those high-quality videos can load quickly on a user's device. With several advancements being made in this field, brands will be able to provide better customer experiences and ensure their messaging reaches them through videos.

Metaverse, social commerce and personalisation in a cookie-less world: Here’s how digital marketers are preparing for the future

<ul><li>While the ad industry has a lot of womentoday, many drop out by the time they reach mid-management levels, primarily due to the lack of flexible hours, or the flexibility to work from home.</li><li>The women leaders we spoke to believe organizations need to prioritize training more women, to prepare them for leadership roles, and this should be a part of the company’s culture.</li><li>There is also a need to relook at the way employee’s performances are evaluated, coming up with newer ways of assessing talent in a time where the way of doing business has seen a complete overhaul.</li></ul> In late 2019, a report by Credit Suisse stated that women’s representation in boardrooms in India increased only by 4.3% between 2014 and 2019. The report further stated that the current female representation on boards is only 15.2% which invariably led to dialogues around the conspicuous lack of women leaders in the upper rungs of the corporate world. Having said that, the world of advertising, marketing and media is one industry that has seen a lot of women in roles of leadership. While we are still far from an equal man-woman ratio in the industry, it is heartening to see more and more women take the top spots. Conversations with most women leaders from the industry led us to believe that this is an industry that welcomes women to be a part of the workforce. However, it is during their mid-career levels that a lot of women drop out of the workforce, leading to a dip in women who take up higher positions. We reached out to some of the most influential women in the industry currently, to gauge what are the reasons for these drop-outs, and what needs to be done, as an industry as well at individual organizational levels, to ensure that women are retained, and even if they drop-out, are encouraged to rejoin the workforce. We received an overwhelming response to our queries from across the sector from women who made some really compelling points. These women who feel passionately about the subject laid their hearts bare, telling us ways they think the industry can evolve, to become more inclusive. Here are some of the most prominent voices. Building a culture of inclusivity It is often noticed that while a lot of women are joining the workforce, many of them take the decision of quitting once they decide to get married or decide to have children. Many find it difficult to come back, due to the lack of flexible working hours at their workplaces, or even due to a certain amount of judgment where people look at them a little differently after they come back from a long break. Most of the women leaders we spoke to believe that the work culture needs to evolve a little, to make way for such women, giving them the flexibility that many of them need, once they start a family. <keyword id="4356726" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="srija-chatterjee">Srija Chatterjee</keyword>, Managing Director, Publicis Worldwide, India shared that while a few corporates have started giving some assistance to women, the ad industry hasn’t yet started doing that actively. “As an industry, we have woken up to women leaders and we are trying to make things happen for women, to make sure that they don't jump off from the workforce. However, there's still a long way to go. The biggest reason women stop working is when they get into that life stage of having children. A lot of corporates are today providing strong support, through office crèches or flexi-timing options. That has not yet happened in our industry. From a business perspective, the size of our agencies might not be that big, which makes implementing this a bit of a challenge. But the more and more we get into a group structure, and offices become more centralized, it will enable organizations to look at shared resources to help women pursue their passion. This is something that could be done, but has not been done yet.” A lot of times, there is also a lot of judgement involved when women come back to work after a long break. Delving deeper into the need for a change in attitude, Pallavi Chakravarti, Executive Creative Director, Taproot Dentsu said, “You’ve been out of the scene way too long - you can’t expect the salary that you do after the kind of leave you’ve taken - but won’t your attention be divided now?” These are just some of the things women hear when they are seeking to make their way back into the workforce, post a long gap. Of course, this is not a blanket statement - times are changing, mindsets are changing, as are corporate policies. But if companies truly want to be gender-neutral then statements and questions like the ones I’ve cited above would never be heard again. Additionally, flexible working hours, working from home, working on time-bound projects are all steps that more and more organisations can adopt to ensure equal opportunities. And when I say equal, I mean that these options should be made available to both men and women. Shedding some light on how OLX is working on retaining some of its women, Sapna Arora, Chief Marketing Officer, OLX India said, “Setting the right example of favourable work culture much suited to women, not just in terms of facilities and infrastructure, but also in terms of broadening our thinking within an organization across various levels, is the key to inspire women working population to join the workforce and perform better. OLX, as an organization, is working on taking baby steps in creating empowering workplace for women. A couple of years ago, we at OLX embarked on a journey to evaluate the gender diversity ratio and actively worked to encourage more women in roles such as data scientists, engineers, front line sales and more. This is a conscious choice we have made under our global diversity and inclusion programme which seeks to improve the gender ratio across STEM and leadership roles.” Talking about the need to prioritize diversity in leadership, Emrana Sheikh, Enterprise HR Head for India and South Asia – Johnson &amp; Johnson said, “Today, companies are increasingly equating their C-suite diversity to competitive advantage for their businesses – and rightly so, it leads to robust dialogue, richer decisions and the empathy to design good, and human-centered solutions. For organizations looking for a paradigm shift in their work cultures, C-suite diversity sets an example for the rest of the team. At the basic level, it can be a source of inspiration that resonates down to the front-line staff. This is only possible when diversity in the leadership is prioritized and its long-term implementation is ensured at all levels through intentionality and focused talent management. Internal platforms such as Diversity &amp; Inclusion Council and Employee Resource Groups further drive culture strategies from a variety of lenses, championing inclusivity as a collective goal across levels. An inclusive culture transcends barriers, bias and bureaucracy, and makes the employees truly feel that they belong. All around, women are a critical mass of consumers, influencers, stakeholders and communities. Hence, reflection of the same in organizations is a business imperative.” Sharing a similar sentiment, Neena Dasgupta, CEO and Director, Zirca Digital Solutions added, “Organizations need to ensure that women in the workplace are respected and recognized.For women to thrive in the workplace, organizations need to ensure an environment that is rooted in equal opportunity and a culture that is geared to assist women achieve their goals.” Sharing some tips on a few things that can be done at the organization level to help women continue to be a part of an organization, Ayesha Ghosh, General Manager, Taproot Dentsu added, “Younger women need to see older women in positions of influence. Flexible working hours and working from home might be a challenge in an industry that’s made a virtue of unreasonable working hours but we ought to be non-negotiable about starting early, cutting idle chatter, short lunch breaks and everything else that helps finish work early so that parents (and everyone else, really!) get to spend some time with their families. Ingraining fundamental values will go a much longer way than making token gestures. Enforcing paternity leave, for instance, so that the onus of child-rearing is not on the mother alone. When a parent, regardless of gender is expected to manage time such that they are responsible for their work as well as for their families, everyone will automatically spend less time on idle chatter and work a lot more efficiently.” An organization's culture also needs to have empathy at its foundation, shared Oindrila Roy, Head of Strategy, India, Essence, to make a difference. "As with any type of workforce integration, empathy should be the edifice on which workplaces are designed to integrate and retain both women and men more seamlessly. For women, it starts with stepping into her shoes, evaluating challenges from her point of view and arriving at solutions which are conducive. For example, an online survey conducted by JobsForHer found that 38% of women do not return to the workforce after giving birth, due to the lack of good day care for children. If that is the challenge, companies need to think of solving this problem innovatively - can the organisation collaborate with a nanny service provider to avail reliable childcare options to its employees? Reassured and empowered parents are likely to stay in the workforce longer." Modifying existing performance benchmarks Rubeena Singh, CEO, iProspect India believes that there is a need to relook at the performance benchmarks on which employees are evaluated. “In the middle years, I often see that we are trying to evaluate people on certain benchmarks. The criteria for these performance indicators have been put in place years ago when it was a largely male-dominated workforce. Things like 8 hours of work, or work in office, or if you want a senior position, you should have worked in different geographies etc. But sometimes, for women, it becomes very difficult to be mobile and move to different parts of the country, especially once they get married. As an industry, we really need to re-evaluate the criteria. We should look for quality now, if people are curious, if they are team-players, how innovative and out-of-the-box can they think. If these changes are brought about, a lot of women will find it easier to catch up from where they left, even if they are coming back after a long break.” Treating both men and women as equals at the workplace A lot of women leaders feel that there is an immediate need to start looking at both men and women as equals in the workspace and not differentiate on the basis of gender. Lara Balsara Wajifdar, Executive Director at Madison World said, “We need to look at women leaders as leaders first and not as women leaders. Don’t differentiate us on the basis of our gender, but differentiate us on the basis of our work! Our industry is always hungry for good talent and if the talent is good, the agency will always accommodate personal requests as long as the work is not affected.” Many also feel the starting point is to start a conversation, where both the genders are treated as equal participants. “<keyword id="6372584" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="gender-equality">Gender equality</keyword> is not just a women’s issue, it’s a human rights issue – that extends to all realms, including the workplace. To encourage equality across all lines of command in the workplace and have more women leaders, we need more men to be equal participants in the conversation around gender equality. Having the male workforce as partners can bring empowerment and equal respect among all genders. Global change-making initiatives like the UN’s ‘He for She’ Movement, of which I am a strong advocate, have been setting strong examples for people of all genders to take bold steps in solidarity and are working towards a gender-equal world,” said <keyword id="235731" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nadia-Chauhan">Nadia Chauhan</keyword>, JMD &amp; CMO, Parle Agro. Pointing out to some things that need to be done at an organizational level, Rishika Lulla Singh, CEO Eros Digital at Eros International said, “There needs to be a cultural shift and change at workplaces to eradicate gender inequality and retain women employees. It is about time that companies consider deserving women for higher level positions and evaluate their performance sans bias. If there are more women leaders out there at the top positions, it gives a sense of confidence to the global sisterhood with strong role models. It is essential that companies organize mentorship programs to break the stereotype of what a man and a woman can or should do. There are several ways to retain a woman employee at work, but we also need to encourage more women to join the workforce. Equal pay, ensuring all voices are heard and feeling valued, creating safe work environment, etc. are all the least we can do.” Pooja Jauhari, CEO, The Glitch put it rather succinctly in her three-point recommendation on how to retain women. She said, “Firstly, treat your entire talent base with gender blindness. Best person for the job. Without over-thinking their family, marital, ‘emotional’ status. Just get the right person for the job. Secondly, allow your talent to align personal and professional goals and build a support system for them to come back to the same position at work after a break (marriage| child birth) and lastly, stop saying a certain gender matters more, prove by example by showing gender balance across functions.” Training young employees to think of themselves as leaders There is also a need for seniors to build an environment of motivating young women while also making them aware of their potential as future managers, shared Sujata Dwibedy, Group Trading Director, Ampilifi India. She said, “This question is asked to mostly senior women but ideally, both senior men, women and the entire team should be equally responsible to motivate the young, efficient women. The entire organisation gains if they can train and then retain competent women leading up to a management role. It is critical to show them advancement opportunities and their growth path. Policies might have to be tweaked but if it benefits all, it should not matter. Building an inclusive workplace, an organisational environment that values diversity not just for the sake of appearances but for the competitive edge that comes with access to multiple perspectives would make a difference.” There are a lot of internal barriers that women have to cross and training them to believe in themselves could help in ensuring they make it to the top. <keyword id="346168" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lulu-Raghavan">Lulu Raghavan</keyword>, Managing Director, Landor Associates said, “Even before thinking of getting more women leaders, we have to think of how we can create a better working place holistically. Secondly, you have to ensure that women at the top, doing good work get the visibility. It starts with the leadership, company philosophy and culture. You’ve got to find them and put them on the top because deserving women do exist. You can’t give us an excuse that there aren’t any women relevant for the top positions. A lot of training has to be done with women themselves; there are a few external barriers such as company policies, work environment, how other people behave towards you, and there are internal factors, which we women have set up through the years. It is the lack of self-confidence, self-doubt and imposter syndrome. We women have to be trained to be leaders. It should be different from the overall management chain because it is decades of social conditioning that companies have to break when women join them. “ Anita Kotwani, Senior Vice President, New Business, Mindshare added, “The industry needs to first acknowledge that Woman leaders can deliver as well as their male counterparts for senior-level roles. The grooming required should be done for the role and not the gender. If that happens you will see the necessary shift with more woman leaders leading the mantle.” Sharing her optimism about the future where she envisions more and more women to be on the top, Kranti Gada, COO Shemaroo Entertainment said, “A few years ago, I participated in a program called ‘Tanmatra’ organized by IIM Bangalore, to help develop and groom fellow women counterparts for about 9 months and the stories I heard about the differences in opportunities shocked me a little. I was happy to be at Shemaroo, where we have seen women in key roles leading from the front and managing the core business with ease and expertise. While the ratio of women is a little skewed in the industry, the gender gap is narrowing, and we will see more women taking charge in future in every field.”

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