Brands
Life in the digital era: food, shelter, clothing and Internet
MUMBAI: As the lines blur between the real and virtual, many brands are making an effort to create a virtually real world to reach out to the audiences/consumers. Especially, when technology allows them a two-way communication with their target audience unlike before when they were left doing only the talking.
Not only do consumers respond in real time on the digital platform, it is a faster, more measurable and result-driven medium that helps brands understand their user base, increase revenue and reward loyalty.
Says Priti Nair of Curry Nation: “A good digital campaign can reach out far and wide as compared to any other medium and that too at a throwaway price. Also, the longevity of a good campaign is far more on the digital platform than any other medium. All these make digital a medium worth checking out.”
Recently, the agency created a digital campaign for Nirlep – Khaate peete desh ka rakhwala – which revolves round Indians’ love for food, sending out a tongue-in-cheek message that healthy eating is still possible with Nirlep non-stick cookware.
“The best part about a viral video is it gives you a lot of space to play around. Interesting characters, situations can be explored. Using the slogan of ‘Yes We can’ with food was both, entertaining enough as well as informative,” says Nair about the campaign.
Says NeoNiche Integrated Solutions MD and CEO Prateek N Kumar: “With digital and technology, the sky’s the limit. If you can dream it, you can build around platforms to really make those elements come to life in real time. A well thought of digital plan also has the capacity of creating WOM and going viral, the ROI is literally exponential compared to traditional media.”
While digital and social media is constantly evolving and is still uncharted territory for most marketers, the basic principles of communication remain the same: Who are you trying to reach, where are they and what excites them?
Not so long ago, FoxyMoron launched a digital campaign – No Pimples, No Marks – for Garnier Pure Active. A fun take on popular movies, posters were released titled Rowdy Pimple, The Dirty Pimple, Pimple Tum Kab Jaaogey and I Hate Pimple Storys which conveyed how pimples haven’t spared Bollywood either.
FoxyMoron co-founder and online strategist Harshil Karia believes one should use a medium which requires you to ‘only’ spend to achieve success. “This is a slightly touchy topic as social media increasingly spawns ideas from scaling organically. For instance, on YouTube, the organic percentage of video views or on Facebook, the organic percentage of fans has considerably reduced. Since both these are dominant mediums, it’s a challenge but try to find holes within the mediums where organic percentages are high and capitalize on them. For example, on Facebook, there was a time when video organic views were extremely high because Facebook was pushing a video agenda. Similarly, as Google pushes a social agenda, its propensity to help brands scale organically will be higher,” he explains.
The brand must know its audience even better than itself. Otherwise, whatever be the strategy, it will never be seen or heard by the right people who matter.
Karia gives the example of HUL’s Lifebuoy campaign, ‘Help a child reach 5’, which tells the story of how a father celebrates his son completing five years of age and has a heart-warming and thought-provoking concept at its core. The YouTube video went viral and garnered over 10 million views.
Digital gurus believe that in the era of smart devices and social handles, the basic necessities of mankind have changed from “Food, Shelter and Clothing” to “Food, Shelter, Clothing and Internet”. With brands latching onto this trend, it will only help them garner user intelligence in real time – something the traditional marketing mix can’t help them achieve.
Brands
Google nears Nvidia in race for world’s most valuable company
Market cap gap narrows as Google hits $4.65 trillion, Nvidia at $4.86 trillion.
MUMBAI: In the AI gold rush, even the giants are sprinting and Google is suddenly gaining ground. Google is rapidly closing in on Nvidia in the race to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company, with the gap between the two narrowing sharply amid diverging stock momentum. The tech giant’s market capitalisation has surged to around $4.65 trillion, following a more than 140 per cent rise in its share price over the past year.
That rally has added over $2.6 trillion in value in just 12 months, including nearly $900 billion since January alone. Its stock recently hovered at $381.80, slipping marginally by 0.04 per cent, but still reflecting strong upward momentum.
Nvidia, meanwhile, continues to hold the top spot with a valuation of approximately $4.86 trillion. The chipmaker crossed the $5 trillion milestone in October last year and peaked at $5.27 trillion on 27 April. However, its shares have largely plateaued over the past six months, rising just 0.2 per cent recently to $199.99.
The contrast in trajectories is striking. While Nvidia has seen relatively flat movement, Google has gained over 36 per cent in the same six-month period. Barron’s estimates suggest that if current trends hold, the valuation gap could shrink to as little as $190 million by the time Nvidia reports its first-quarter earnings on 20 May.
Daily momentum paints a similar picture. Nvidia recorded average daily gains of about 0.66 per cent last month, compared to Google’s stronger 1.42 per cent, an edge that could prove decisive in the short term.
Driving Google’s resurgence is its aggressive push into artificial intelligence across its ecosystem, from search and YouTube to cloud computing. The company has already invested $144 billion in capital expenditure over the past two years and plans to deploy a further $490 billion over the next two.
Its cloud division is also gathering pace. Google Cloud reported an order backlog of nearly $220 billion in the latest quarter, with total backlog touching a record $462 billion, around half of which is expected to be realised within two years. The company’s entry into chip sales is also beginning to factor into its growth narrative.
The last time Google briefly topped the S&P 500 by market value was in February 2016, when it edged past Apple for just two days. This time, the stakes and the numbers are far higher.
At the heart of the contest lies a single force: artificial intelligence. As both companies pour billions into infrastructure, chips and platforms, the leaderboard is no longer just about size, it is about who can scale the future faster.
