Indiantelevision.com Team

(5 April 2008 10:00 pm)

GOA: Indian consumers are concerned about personal invasion by advertising companies. Hence, marketers need to be careful when collecting data and also in how the data is being used, said MindShare Worldwide's global director of insights Sheila Byfield at a session entitled "The Big Blur: Global trends and their implications for communications" at the Goafest 2008 Advertising Conclave.

Byfield also said that all types of behaviour are increasingly fragmented. "Since new channels and media paths are launching everyday, there are more and more ways to spend and save time," she said.

Quite unlike other media thinkers, she, however, believes that "the old communication model is not dead but is changing. We need to think more about engagement than interruption."

Referring to MindShare Global MindReader Survey 2008, she said that India is up to date with latest technologies and that India is ahead of global average on optimism and confidence. In addition, Indians place high value on luxury and heritage, and reflect the global trend of interest in the environment.

According to Byfield, the factors that drive the changes in today's media world include the following:

*Tchnologies have opened up a completely new world of communications now

*An increasing demand for user-generated content

*More and easier ways to avoid advertsing

*Increasing scepticism about advertising and marketing

Above all, the divide between media and technology is fading away. It is becoming increasingly difficult to tell media from technology, which means there could be potential chaos. "In a cluttered market, people fail to notice most of the marketing messages," she said.

"Our research methods will need to change to cope up with this new world," she added.

To forestall this chaos, marketers need to talk to consumers. Moreover, since the impact of communication depends on category involvement (engagement), consistency with brand advertisng is more effective. For example, end-aisle displays, leaflets and shelf signs are most noticed.

On a more optimistic note, she said that although there is possibility of chaos, in countries such as China shoppers team up for better deals, which implies that the retail dynamic is also undergoing a change to offset this blurring.