MAM
Content Vs Market debate dominates: CMS Asia 2016
MUMBAI: Post-lunch panels are always a challenge, but panellists – The 120 Media Collective’s Roopak Saluja, Optimystix Entertainment’s Sanjeev Sharma, GroupM’s Tushar Vyas and Havas Worldwide’s Nirmalya Sen — at the Content Marketing Summit Asia 2016 were up for it as they discussed if media agency partners were ready for the client’s content marketing needs of the hour.
Without much ado, the panel was quick to address how agencies should go about justifying the content marketing spends to clients who are still fairly rooted in the ATL mindset. “Its a challenge, yes, but the questions are only natural as the brand custodians too are placing their bets on something new. We, as agencies, need to be ready for those tough questions and help brands to look beyond the clicks and page views to really deep analytics like time spent, etc. The fact that a Hindustan Unilever, which is as traditional as they come, placed their bets on the content market is itself laudable,” Saluja said.
Going a step further in the measurement debate, Saluja stressed the need to educate brands on what numbers really matter and the fact that there is no one measurement metrics that works for all brands. It depends on the brand’s objective in different parts of the purchase cycle. “When you are able to charge on a non-commoditised basis, there will be a huge positive shift in the content marketing business.” Not every brand needs to be on the content marketing format, Saluja added.
Vyas confessed that the Indian market isn’t there yet when it comes to truly successful content marketing, be it scale or depth. ”Clients more often look for a short-term campaign-based engagement, but content is a longer commitment, and hence harder to crack. But, on the positive side, we have a thriving ecosystem of content in all formats and a hungry bunch of content producers that the digital disruption has produced. Agencies need to be on their toes to spot and make the best use of them,” he said.
Sharing the perspective of a relatively young agency in the market, Havas Worldwide’s Nirmalya Sen pointed out that being relatively young in the market has helped it to watch and learn from the other media management empires, while being driven by digital at the core. “We dont have division, there is only one Havas, and digital is at its heart. We don’t have a separate PNL from which we make revenue, we work as one, which helps us handle content and resonate the brand’s attitude in it across all platforms and forms of communication.”
What clearly emerged as the point of debate was — Did content come first in content marketing, or did marketing come first?
For Suluja, it’s content all the way. “Brands need to under stand that there is a difference between branded content and content marketing. It is not about how many times a reference is made to the brand or how many times the logo pops up in the video or whatever piece of content. For a piece of content to work for a brand, it needs to be engaging to the viewer/ consumer, who is very intelligent and aware. The idea is to not make a long ad film but a truly engaging content.”
Sen, on the other hand, felt that marketing had a larger role to play in content marketing, and caution needs to be maintained when content can be married to a brand, as a brand has its own attitude, which must come through in the content.
Sharma was quick to point out that there existed a school of thought in the industry which considers content marketing as another fancy word for advertising. Vyas responded to it saying, “What we are doing to engage consumers is completely different from conventional ads. As we go along, content will have to do with having a conversation with the consumers. The kind of talent and mindset needed is different. There is nothing to sell them but the point is to engage.
Talent is another challenge to successful content marketing that the panel identified, and each had his own perspective. “It is not possible to in-source everything in today’s environment – partnership is the way. As an agency, we need to be tea-testers as we are integrating multiple talents into our ecosystem,” said Tushar.
On the other hand, Sen professed the importance of in-house talent. “If we are not sitting under one roof and addressing problems from a brand’s perspective as one unit, it is not going to work.”
The takeaway from the panel was perhaps Sharma’s line: It is easier to teach content producers about brands than brands about content.”
Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
